Provocation
by Sailor-Nova343
Summary: Deidara goes to a boarding school where he meets Sasori, a flirtatious redhead with bedroom eyes and a talent for teasing. Sasori is crazy about Deidara, who hates his guts. Will either of their feelings change? Prequel to I Love.
1. Arrival

**Provocation**-Chapter 1: **Temptation**

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Okay, so I know I Love is still going on, and YES I will work on it -I promise!- but I really was going crazy with this idea flying around and not writing it down! So if you have read I Love, thanks! and I hope you like this one, too. If you haven't, well you don't have to to make sense of this story, but it would be nice...:3 Also, **THERE IS** NOT **GOING TO BE ANY KISAITA IN HERE! **The reason is because I seriously just can't write them together well. Definately not for a full chapter or more. I don't know why. I think it's because I just can't feel the connection between them, or something...I guess I don't really think they should be gay together, but for I love, I needed them to be...well, anyways...

Also, the chapters for this will be much shorter than for I LOVE, so it's easier to update. Usually, they'll be from 2000-5000, maybe 8000 sometimes. Just so you know.

**Temptation is STRICTLY SasoDei**

**Chapters called Torture will be STRICTLY HidaKaku  
**

I do not own Naruto. Mr Kishimoto does. If _I _did, I'd be running into the sunset with, like, half a dozen characters, but I don't. : boohoo...waaaaah..

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Deidara scowled. He was standing outside the office of the headmistress, just inside the foyer of his new school, St Misery. He had been standing there for over twenty minutes. Apparently Miss Tsunade was slightly busy. Her right-hand representative, Shizune, appeared suddenly, making Deidara jump slightly.

"I'm so sorry for the inconvenience, Mister Iwa," she said, looking stressed, "we're just having a little trouble with a couple of students. As soon as the last one's sent down and delt with, Lady Tsunade will be free to see you." she finished, flapping her hands in a distracted way.

Deidara nodded, silently wondering exactly what these students had done wrong; his dad had explained that St Misery's Acadamy for the Artistically Gifted -strictly teens- took _all _kinds, meaning even ones who had been suspended/expelled from their previous schools. St Misery's was kind of a back-up plan for parents of problem children; if nowhere else would take them and they were into the arts, St Misery's would, but only if the students complied to a few choice rules: no killing anything/anybody, no purposeful broken bones/concussions/serious injuries, no drugs on school premises, teen pregnancies are _not _approved of, and no bullying. Other than that, the students were to apply common sense to most situations, and the teachers would trust them, to an extent.

Shizune turned, and as Deidara watched her leave, he realized that she was holding a large megaphone. Turning the corner, she suddenly raised it to her mouth. Deidara jumped again when her kind voice suddenly turned fierce, and echoed off the walls of the ancient boarding school:

"AKASUNA! COME HERE THIS INSTANT!" she roared, and over the ringing of his ears, Deidara could just hear a low, rather amused voice mutter something like, "Yeah, yeah, I know.." He raised an eyebrow as Shizune stomped back around the corner, her mouth in a thin line and her hand gripping hte arm of another teenage boy.

The boy was shooting her a sideways look that was bordering on flirtatious, but as soon as he noticed that there was company in the foyer, his attention switched. Deidara scoweld when he realized that the other boy was giving him a twice-over. Deidara looked at the boy suspiciously. He had a clear case of bed-head, his dark red hair perfectly messy. He had heavily-lidded bedroom eyes that were a curious burgundy-grey colour, surrounded by dark lashes. He looked to be close to Deidara's height, maybe slightly taller.

Almost as if he knew he was being evaluated, the boy smirked and winked at Deidara, who stared at him in shocked silence; _who does this guy think he is? _Shizune (still speaking through the megaphone) ordered the boy not to move a muscle, then she disappeared inside Tsunade's office, leaving the two teens alone.

"You're new here." The redhead's voice was casual, but Deidara narrowed his eyes, detecting a seductive ring to it. It wasn't a question, and Deidara assumed that it didn't require an answer. The boy across from him crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, assuming an expression of amusement, his eyes steadily travelling up Deidara's body. Deidara scowled and focused his gaze on the opposite wall, silently begging Shizune to come back and take this weird boy away. After ten long, awkward seconds, he chanced a look back. The boy was still watching him, as smirk on his face.

"Could you stop staring?" Deidara asked. "It's annoying. And creepy, un." The boy's smirk widened.

"I'm in fourth year. What about you? How old are you?" he asked. Deidara certainly didn't feel like revealing what he considered to be personal information to this weirdo, but he couldn't think of an even vaguely polite way to get out of it.

"I'm turning sixteen in May." he said grudgingly. The boy in front of him nodded slowly, a grin spreading lazily across his face.

"Good. You're in fourth year, too, then. We'll probably have classes together, blondie." A vein popped in Deidara's temple.

"Don't call me that, un." he said, irritated. The other boy tilted his head childishly to the side.

"What do you want me to call you, then?' he asked, and Deidara scowled again.

"I don't particularly want you to call me anything other than my name, un." he said, vexed.

"'Can't do that, blondie. I don't know your name." the boy said, and Deidara did a mental face-palm; the other teen was so smug he was practically bouncing in place, so pleased with himself.

"Er...right. It's Deidara, un." he said, and the boy blinked before tilting his head the other way.

"Dei...da...ra...it's sexy." he said, and as much as Deidara was trying to deny it, the boy sounded like he was serious. Great.

"Call me Sasori." the boy said, "I mean it. Call me." he said, and Deidara glared at him.

"No thanks." he said icily, and Sasori laughed lightly.

"Ouch. Cold. But I bet I can change your mind." he said, in a voice that spelled trouble. Deidara crossed his arms and leaned against the wall behind him, mirroring Sasori's pose, and tossed his head, scowling at him.

"I _don't _think so. Don't even try, un." he said, looking away, making sure his long, dark blonde hair hid his face from this freaky weirdo. He heard Sasori laugh softly again.

"You're pouting. What a kid." Deidara didn't comment. "It's actually quite cute, you know." Sasori's voice was suddenly a _lot _closer, and Deidara could feel his breath against his neck. He turned to look, and was suddenly nose-to-nose with Sasori, who had silently moved, and was now looking at him with his curious, bedroom eyes. Deidara bit his lip, realizing that Sasori's hands were pressing his own wrists up against the wall, stopping him from getting away. He gave Sasori a deathglare instead.

"Move. Right now." he hissed, but Sasori just laughed again, and Deidara watched with wide eyes as Sasori's slightly parted mouth came closer and closer, his breath warm and soft. Deidara shut his eyes and looked away, hating what was happening, but absolutely unable to stop it. Just as Sasori's lips brushed his neck, the door to Tsunade's office opened. Sasori didn't relinquish his hold on Deidara's wrists, leaving the poor blonde trapped helpless and in a state of horror, shock, and embarassment as Shizune stepped out, accompanied by a tall teen boy with orange hair, weird eyes, and loads of piercings. Sasori looked over, pouting.

"You sure took your time. You _know _I hate waiting." Sasori said, and Deidara could tell by the tone of his mesmeric voice that he was being sulky. Shizune released her hold on the other boy's arm, and put her hands on her hips.

"Akasuna, let go of Mister Iwa _right _now, or you are gonna be in a _heap _of trouble!" she said, striding forwards, raising an arm in such a way that Deidara was sure she was going to rip Sasori off of him. But no, Sasori moved away with a heavy sigh before Shizune even got near.

"See ya later, Dei-da-ra..." Sasori said seductively, giving the shell-shocked blonde a cheerful wink before being shoved into Tsunade's office, closely followed by an irate Shizune. Which left Deidara against the wall and the pierced-up boy leaning against a pillar.

"Hey. You've met Sasori already, I see. 'Like him?" the tall boy asked. Luckily, Deidara's pulse had slowed properly, so he answered the question quite normally.

"Yeah I've met him. I hate him. Is he your friend?" he asked warily; was this guy _also _a crazy perv? The other boy laughed, and turned to face Deidara. "Yeah. Almost my best friend, actually. I'd really like to say 'don't worry, he'll back off...' but I don't think he will. He likes you." he said, and gave Deidara a cheeky grin. It was not returned.

"Wow. I seriously didn't notice, un." Deidara said sarcastically. The other boy laughed.

"I like you too, just not in Sasori's way. I'm Pain. Fourth year. We might have classes together." he said, and Deidara nodded; _this _one, at least, seemed more...er...normal, if you didn't count the crazy amount of metal adorning his ears, nose, and mouth.

"I'm Deidara. I just got here, un."

"Ooh, a late-comer...mostly we're all here after September." Pain said with a grin, sliding over to Deidara with a rather cat-like grace. He leaned against the wall next to Deidara, who shifted away slightly, having definately _not _forgotten what had just happened to him.

"Relax, 'kay? I'm straight. But I take it you _aren't_?" Pain asked with a naughty smile. Deidara blushed slightly, affronted.

"Ex_cuse _you! You don't know anything about me! ...besides, why do you think so?" Deidara asked grumpily, looking away. Pain laughed.

"You sure are funny. I guess it's 'cause I _know _you're a guy...not sure if Sasori knew or not, but with him it hardly matters...I guess it's because you looked like you liked what he was doing." Pain explained, giving Deidara a playful grin. It was not returned.

"_What?_" Deidara spluttered, staring at the other boy. "I...no way!...he...it was _totally_...like...no way!" he protested, faltering slightly by the audaciousness of the boy, who was laughing.

"You really are funny. You should eat lunch with me and my friends, okay?" he asked, and Deidara nodded dumbly. "Good. We sit at the table by the back doors in the lunch hall. If you see me, just wave and come over, 'kay?" he asked, and Deidara nodded again.

"Thanks..." he said belatedly, but Pain just waved a hand at him.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm sure you'll like the others, though. Even Sasori. He's the best friend you can have after...er...he gets over you, I guess." Pain said sheepishly, and Deidara snorted.

"Riiiiight...Well, I for one, hope that he gets over me _soon. _Like, _really _soon, un." he said, tossing his hair, and Pain laughed again. An easy laugher, apparently.

There was a moment of comfortable silence, and then Tsunade's office door opened yet again, and once more, Shizune walked out, gripping the arm of a boy. Sasori's face lit up when he saw Pain and Deidara. He shot Deidara a sexy look before Shizune began lecturing him on the improper use of weapons, etc, etc, and the obviously unwanted philandering with a poor, new student. At the end of it all, she gave Pain a slapped wrist for hanging around and not going back to class, and then shooed the two troublemaking boys away.

"See ya later, blondie." Sasori called, and Pain laughed and waved before the two disappeared around the corner. Shizune let out a long sigh.

"Well, I'm sorry for the wait, and everything with Sasori, etc, Deidara. But luckily, Lady Tsunade can see you now, and we'll get you all settled down. Normally it's not this busy, there's just been some excitement after the summer break. The first four weeks are always quite a hassle. So, come on in, okay?" Shizune invited, ushering Deidara, at long last, into the headmistress' office.

It had a very calming decor of pale greens, sea blues, and well-chosen conversation pieces. A woman who could only be Lady Tsunade herself stood looking out the large windows, her back to the room, so that all they could see was a black silhouette. Deidara sat down in one of the chairs that Shizune pointed at.

"Mr Iwa's here now, Lady Tsunade." Shizune said, and the woman turned around. And Deidara gaped; she had the biggest rack he'd ever _seen. _No, bigger than he'd ever even imagined _possible _for a woman to actually _posess_. It was bigger than a Barbie doll's. In fact, although he had a sneaky suspicion that every pound of the bouncy flesh was natural, it looked quite _un_natural on her otherwise slim, normal frame.

"Mr Iwa, it's nice to meet you at last." Tsunade said in a rather clipped tone, making Deidara realize that his blatant stare had not gone unnoticed. He looked up to see a kind face and long, pale blonde hair gathered into two low pigtails.

"I'm very sorry for making you wait so long in the foyer, but as I'm sure Shizune's told you, we had a bit of trouble with some of our boys." At the mention of the other boys, Deidara vaguely wondered what _Sasori _had thought when he'd first seen Tsunade's impressive cleavage. Probably something _extremely _dirty. He was torn from his disdainful thoughts as Shizune handed him several pieces of paper.

"These are you schedule, copy of the school rules, etc. Stuff like that." Tsunade said with an amused smile. Deidara glanced over his classes; general sculpture, photography, clay sculpture, drawing, painting, explosions 101, gym, and B.A.

"What's B.A?" he asked the general audience. Tsunade answered.

"It stands for Bombers Anonomous. Your parents requested this course in your schedule, at least for one year. It's pretty fun, actually." she said, giving Deidara an encouraging smile. He returned it, albeit a little uncertainly; as long as they didn't try to talk him out of expressing his art, he'd be just fine.

"Okay. So, if you don't have any questions..." he shook his head, and Tsunade continued, "Shizune can take you straight on up to your dorm, where you'll stay until you either leave the school, or you graduate to fifth year. Since this morning went by pretty quickly, you can just look around and unpack until lunch, in forty minutes. It's in the lunch hall, and Shizune can give you directions there. After that, I expect you to be at your last-block class." Tsunade said, standing up and giving them the cue to leave.

"It's just on the right..." Shizune said, walking through the huge Boy's hall towards the three doors with large silver 4s on them.

"The fourth year dorms are different than the others," Shizune explained, gesturing to the other nmbered doors, which were generally in groups of two, or even just one, "because we got a new architect in after the old fourth year dorms were...ah...annihilated, to put it lightly. So instead of two doors and then single rooms inside, you and the other fourth-year boys have got three doors and then just one room inside, with bunk beds and things. So you're the only year who has roomies. It can be a good thing or a bad thing." Shizune opened the first door, and Deidara walked in after her into a medium-sized room with two chests of drawers, two tables, four chairs, and a bunk bed.

"This is what they usually look like, but because we've got an odd number of boys this year..." she said, leading the way into the third room; "_This _is the way your room is set up!" she said, gesturing at the arrangement of beds and tables in the third room. There was a bunk bed, and another single bed against the opposite wall. There were _three _tables, _three _dressers, and four chairs.

"So...who am I rooming with?" Deidara asked, noting that his luggage was leaning against the opposite wall. Shizune flipped over a few papers on her clipboard.

"Lets see...Pain and Sasori. You've met both of them, I know." she said, giving Deidara an encouraging smile. Deidara blinked, his stomach dropping then writhing in his ankles. Pain, sure, fine, he liked him. Sasori? In the same _room_! At _night! _No. Way. Not. Happening. "Well, I'm afraid that the other rooming arrangements are permanent. Any switching is against the rules for _very _good reasons, so don't ask." Shizune said, walking out, saying goodbye, and wishing Deidara luck before escaping out the door.

Deidara sighed and sat down on one of the beds, looking morosely around his new home.

Perfect.

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Okay, I know it's short, but I _did _try, etc etc.. I'm such a baby, I know. Okay, so review if you liked it, and review if you want me to change stuff NO GARUNTEES!

yeahh! 3 3


	2. True Art

Argh, so some serious crap happened...anyways, had to redo chapter 2. I can't remember what happened in it before, but anyways...

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**Temptation: 2**

Deidara stuffed his cellphone into his pocket, grabbed a couple random books and pencils and stuffed them in his bag, and walked out the door. Not like he was going to wait around for the day to end. There was another class before the end of the school day, and Deidara vaguely hoped to make a couple friends before going back to his room.

As he walked down the cold, crowded hallways, he got a lot of stares. Normal, he supposed, since he was 'the new person', however it got _really _annoying after a while. Finally he found his class, after consulting his schedule at least two dozen times. He jumped as the loudest bell he'd heard in his life echoed throughout the school, and slipped into the art room with a sigh of relief.

He looked around at the large tables, taking in the various kinds of art covering almost every available surface, and felt, for the first time, that this could be the place for him. He walked up to the teacher, who immediately whipped out the attendance list as the room began to fill with students.

Deidara felt a little self-conscious as he felt eyes on him, but he kpet his gaze focused on the cool wooden puppets on the shelf above him. _Nice...they'd be better if they exploded though, of course..._Finally all the students were in the class, and the bell rang again...and yet the teacher was still completely disorganized. Typical.

Finally, the teacher raised her head, beamed at Deidara, and tugged him behind her to the front of the class. Deidara scowled as he caught glimpses of jaws dropping and eyes widening as he was brought under the stares of his new classmates. Why did they have to stare like that, anyways? Deidara was jolted out of his thoughts at the sound of his own name; "..Deidara, your new classmate. You guys better be nice to her, okay~! She's new here." Deidara's scowl deepened, and he felt a vein pulse in his head. A _girl..._

"Um, scuze me..." he interrupted, and the whole class gawked at him. He could hear hisses of '_she spoke!' 'She's kinda flat, isn't she?' 'Don't be rude!'_

"Yeah?" the teacher asked, looking puzzled.

"Um, I'm a guy, un." Deidara said awkwardly. The teacher immediately blushed and began to apologize.

"It's okay..." Deidara tried to calm her down, but she just continued to apologize.

"Okay, so does the class have any questions for Deidara?" He couldn't believe it. First he was refferred to as 'she', and now he had to stand up in front of the class like an animal at the zoo while they pestered him with the most annoying questions ever? Lovely.

"Yes, Ino?" the teacher asked, pointing to a girl a few tables back with long, pale blonde hair loose down her back. Deidara vaguely recognized her...second cousin? ...third cousin?

"Deidara, are you single?" she asked, standing up. Deidara couldn't believe it. So...OMG.

"Uh, yeah..." he said awkwardly, and there was a huge 'Ooooo~H' from a few girls and a guy or two. "Kiba?" "Are you sure you're a guy?" Deidara's eyebrow twitched.

"You wanna check, asshole?" he asked challenglingly, and there was another 'Oooo~h!'. God. Finally, the questions were over, but not before Deidara was interrogated about his favourite colour, where he came from, what his name means, and why he was blonde. Honestly, dummest questions EVER.

"U-Um, anyways, Deidara...you're sitting..." the teacher consulted a class map, "Next to...Sasori. Over there. Sasori, can you wave, please?" Deidara's insides filled with ice as he looked up to see Sasori. Sasori the redhead. Sasori, the dreamy-eyed, no-idea-what-personal-space-is boy smirking at him from a table on the other side of the room and waving.

Crap. Crap, crap, crappy piece of crappy crap...

Deidara's scowl deepened as he reluctantly slouched off towards the other boy. He sat down on the painted stool next to the redhead, dumped his bag down, turned to face the teacher, and tried to ignore him for as long as possible. 'As long as possible' turned out to not be very long.

"You know, if you scowl like that all the time, you'll get wrinkles." Sasori commented, his voice sounding far closer than what it should be. Deidara turned a centimetre, and sure enough, Sasori was right next to him, leaning over, his bedroom eyes gazing dreamily up over his teasing smirk.

"You're too close. Move, un. And I don't care if I get wrinkles." Deidara lied- he'd once had a nightmare that he was so wrinkly that people called him 'grandpa' when he was only thirty. Sasori laughed lightly, but didn't move at all. If anything, he moved closer.

"Do you like it here?" Sasori asked as the teacher started explaining about different textures of plastic. Boring. Deidara frowned again, scooting his stool away from Sasori.

"No, un. It's okay, I mean. But I'm sure I'd like it better if you'd leave me alone, un."

"Ouch. Right in the feelings." Sasori said, pretending to be wounded. Deidara rolled his eyes; the redhead didn't seem to take _anything _seriously. Not the kind of person he could see himself getting along with. He tried to scoot further away, but Sasori hooked a foot around the leg of his stool, almost making him fall off.

"Could you not do that, un? Not only is it _the most annoying thing EVER, _it's also super childish, un." "Well, I never grew up. Deal with it." Sasori retorted smoothly, and Deidara rolled his eyes again. He sensed he'd be doing that a lot if he continued to chat with his new roommate.

"Can you guys get into groups of two and discuss what art means to you? It's okay if you've got different ideas, it's just an excercise to embrace art in all forms." the teacher called up from the front of the class. Deidara looked immediately to his left, but the girl with pale blue eyes had already paired up with a boy with blonde hair, and the other two boys at their table were paired up,.

"Just you and me, Dei...da...ra." Sasori said slowly, giving Deidara the most chillingly sexual grin ever. The blonde boy shivered (in a bad way, naturally) and crossed his arms.

"Fine. But don't...do creepy stuff, un." he said warningly. Sasori spread his arms, assuming an expression of innocence (ruined, of course, by his seductive tone).

"_Creepy? _Dei-baby, when have I ever done anything _creepy_?" he asked, and Deidara raised his eyebrows, but didn't answer. No point, with somebody _this _conceitedly thick-headed.

"So. What do you think about art, un?" Deidara asked, deciding (for once) to listen to the teacher and do what he was supposed to. Sasori answered immediately, making Deidara think that maybe he really liked art. (Well...why else would he be at this school!)

"Art is something that lasts forever. It's permanent, preserved, so that generations and generations can see it and admire it. It's something beautiful that stays forever."

Had Deidara been drinking anything, he'd've choked.

"Are you _serious_?" he asked, staring at the redhead in disbelief; how could anybody's opinion be _so completely opposite _of his own?

"Why? What do you think?" Sasori asked, almost sarcastically. Deidara rolled his eyes, and then answered. "Art is transient. It's there for a moment, a few seconds even, but it's beautiful, and you remember it forever. It's momentary, a fleeting moment of beauty and destruction, un." he said confidentallly. Sasori snorted and shook his head.

"What do you mean, like an _explosion? _What are you, an arsonist?" Deidara cracked a grin.

"Yeah. What did you think I was, a ballerina?" Sasori laughed genuinely, surprising Deidara. Actually, it was a nice laugh. "I should have known somebody hot like you would have a bad-ass hobby." Sasori said, smirking at the blonde, who scowled and looked away, but secretly smiled: no matter how much their opinions differed, Sasori hadn't outright insulted his art. 'Bad-ass' had to be one of the best compliments he'd gotten on his art. The usuals were things like 'dangerous', 'monsterous', 'destructive', or 'crazy'.

They spent the rest of class preparing wooden boards for a new 3-D project they would be starting next day. When the bell rang for the end of the day, Sasori and Deidara left the classroom together (mostly because Sasori wouldn't leave Deidara alone, and Deidara couldn't remember how to get back to the dorm)

"You hungry?" Sasori asked as the other students began swarming towards the doors to the lunch hall. Deidara shrugged, and followed Sasori in. He grabbed a tray, a juice box, a sliver of lasagna, and an apple, before sitting down next to Pain, who greeted him enthousiastically and asked how his classes were going.

"Here, lemme introduce you to the others," the orange-haired boy said, turning to the other boys occupying the end of the table.

"That's Itachi-" he pointed to a slim, dark-haired boy with reddish eyes and large bags under them, who looked silently at Deidara, who waved vaguely. "..Kisame..." Pain punched the shoulder of a large boy with blue-tinged skin and a shark-like grin. "Hey! Nice to meetcha. Feel free to hang out with me whenever." Kisame said, and Deidara grinned, liking the fishy boy already.

"And you know Sasori, of course. I hear we're all gonna be roommates! Wont that be _fun~_!" Pain said, grinning teasingly at Deidara, who scowled at Sasori, who was (of course) winking at him.

"One big happy family, right Pain?" Itachi asked in monotone, and Pain laughed loudly.

Once dinner was over, Deidara, Pain and Sasori raced back to their dorm room, each for a different reason: Deidara wanted to get there first to choose his bed. Sasori wanted to get there first to bear-hug Deidara on his way in. Pain wanted to get there first to...hide his Soul Eater manga that Sasori kept trying to steal.

As all three of them crashed through the door, Deidara felt that his year would be anything but boring.

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Sorry about this! Thanks to** TwistedKitsune **for pointing it out, but somehow I overwrote this chapter with a chapter from my other story...O-o I seriously don't know how that happened...anyways so I redid this, and I hope it's okay. Catch ya later! plz review!


	3. Exploding Wednesday

** Provocation**-Chapter 3: **Temptation**

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**THIS STORY IS NOW OFFICIALLY DEDICATED TO CAKE-IS-LIFE! Number 1 reviewer EVER! -**I love all my reviewers, though, of course- but yeah! Thanks so much for all your support and everything!

Okay, so I know I said this story would have chapters with KakuHida. However, I just got so excited about this DeiSaso chapter, I just couldn't leave it. So here it is, and KakuHida will be the next chapter. :D

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"SHAWTY BOTTOM!" Sasori shouted as soon as he and Deidara had stepped through the door to their room. Deidara grinned slyly at him.

"You know, I'd have thought that _you_, with all your manliness and whatever, would _never _go bottom, un." Deidara said as he walked over to where his trunk was parked in the corner of the room. Sasori looked surprised at what he'd said, but his expression soon slid back into a relaxed smirk.

"Oh, don't worry. I'm _never _on bottom, normally. I just thought I'd give you a chance to go top once in your life." he said, stretching and grinning. Deidara definately felt a vein pulsing angrily in his head as he whirled around to face the redhead who seemed to have developed a liking for annoying him.

"Take that back, un." he said, irritated. Sasori looked at him in surprise. Then he smirked again.

"No, I don't think I will. I think it's a reasonable statement to make, because you look so much like a _girl _that you'd never eve-" Sasori was cut off as Deidara flung himself at him.

Sasori only realized what was happening and what was _not _happening, when he was pinned to the floor, with Deidara on top, glaring at him angrily.

"Don't _ever _call me a girl again, un." he said menacingly, and Sasori had to repress a _serious _urge to laugh; it's not every day you get pinned to the floor by a hot blonde with a cute speech habit and a great body. Sasori flipped them over easily, switching to _him _pinning _Deidara _to the floor. Sasori thought back to his previous thought, and shook his head with a small smile; Deidara was _more _than hot, _more _than cute, and his body was greater than great. But he was so much more: he was Deidara.

Judging from what Shizune had let slip, he was a pyromaniac with a fetish for 'artistic' explosions and a serious longing for extra mouths. And Deidara was at that moment glaring at Sasori with all the ferocity of a mother moose. (Okay, they don't _sound _fierce, but I swear, they're _vicious_.) Sasori laughed slightly, and leaned closer, so he and Deidara's faces only had a little gap between their noses. He didn't miss Deidara's faint blush and how he turned his head to avoid looking at him.

"What? Does this make you nervous, Dei...da...ra...?" Sasori said seductively, elongating Deidara's name. Deidara, to Sasori's satisfaction, blushed more.

"It does _not!_" Deidara protested, wiggling in a futile attempt to get up. Sasori laughed lightly, and bent lower. Just as he did, the door burst open.

"I'm _HEEEERE!_" Pain called, standing in a heroic, Guy-Sensei pose on the doorstep. Deidara stared at him in a frenzy of embarassment; it was all _Sasori's _fault, of course, but they were stuck in a position that looked like they'd been making out. Not only that, but Pain looked really silly. Sasori just glowered at him in a very sulky way.

"_Pain,_" he sighed. "I'm sure that due to your lack of romantic experience, you wouldn't _know, _but you're kind of interrupting us here..." Sasori sighed, and Pain laughed.

"Sure I am. I'm pretty sure Deidara would rather I stayed, right?" he said, looking at his pinned-down friend, who nodded vigerously. Sasori sighed and got off Deidara.

"Oh, you're no fun." he said to the general audience. Pain laughed.

"Okay, lemme guess: this all started when you tried to decide who would be top or bottom bunk, right?" he asked, and Sasori and Deidara stared at him.

"Oh, seriously, I was _right_? Wow... that _never _happens." Pain said, shaking his head and flopping down onto his bed. Sasori snorted.

"You liar. That _always _happens with you." he said, amused.

"_I _will go on top, un." Deidara said confidently, sitting up and walking over to the ladder leading to the top bunk. Sasori followed him, grinning, and sat down on the bottom bunk.

Deidara was multitasking: unpacking his stuff into one of the chest of drawers against the wall opposite his bunkbed, and arguing casually with Sasori. He didn't miss how Sasori was watching him constantly, like a cat watching a feather on a string dance around the room. Neither did he miss how Pain watched him and Sasori argue, occasionally putting a stroke of a pen onto a sheet of notebook paper. It didn't take Deidara long to realize that Pain was making some kind of score chart, and would make a mark whenever either he or Sasori won an argument.

Finally done, Deidara stretched, intertwining his fingers and stretching his arms forwards with a yawn. Pain glanced up and grinned.

"Hey, are those tattoos?" he asked, and Deidara blinked before remembering.

"Uh-huh. I've had them for years, un." he said, as Sasori silently got off his bed and crossed the room to come see. Sasori took Deidara's hands, forcing them palm-up to look at the tattoos. Sasori grinned down at the open, grinning mouths with the tongues hanging out.

"Cute." Sasori said, and Deidara grinned -because nobody _ever _thought they were cute.

"Do you have any more?" Sasori asked, and Deidara nodded, sitting down on the floor.

"Yeah I do." he said, and Sasori sat down cross-legged in front of him, propping his chin up on his elbows, which were resting on his knees.

"Where?" Pain asked, and Deidara replied that he had a bigger, different one on his chest.

"Can we see?" he asked, giving Deidara a full-power bedroom-eyed stare. Deidara scowled and shifted away.

"No! Don't be so creepy. It's weird, un." and Pain laughed while Sasori pouted.

"You know," Pain began, kicking Deidara lightly to get his attention, "most people in this school would _die _for Sasori to want to see their other tattoos. I guess you're not most people, huh?" he said, grinning, and Deidara shook his head vigorously.

"No way, un. But what do you mean 'most people in this school'? Does that include you?" Deidara asked with a raised eyebrow. Both Pain and Sasori snorted at that, almost in sync.

"_Absolutely _not." Pain said, with Sasori nodding importantly. "I think I know too much about Sasori to _ever _be attracted to him." Pain said with a grin, before adding that Sasori was not his type in every single way. Deidara grinned before asking Pain what his type was. Pain seemed to think this over for a while.

"Well, a girl. I _am _straight, thank you very much." he began, and Sasori smirked. "I guess I'd like her to be tall, funny, not a total bitch, and she would have to be able to help me pierce my arms with a straight face." he said, and Deidara laughed.

"Oh, come on, it's not _that _big of a deal," Sasori drawled, "he just wants a hot goth girl with a piercing or two, maybe a tattoo, but good morals." Sasori summed up, and Pain rolled his eyes.

"It's annoying that _you _can summarize what I want in a girlfriend better than _I _can." he grumbled.

They kept talking until lights-out, which was at ten forty-five for the fourth years. They had all changed in the communal washrooms at the end of the hall, which Deidara swore had to be the most inconvenient bathrooms _ever. _He sighed, switched off the lights, tossed Spaceman Spiff, Colonel Tedd, Dr Hoo, and Exploding Wednesday (his stuffed animals) up onto his bunk before climbing up after them.

In the middle of the night, Deidara opened his eyes. For some reason, he had woken up. He couldn't figure out why until he realized that Sasori was listening to music underneath him. By the sound of it, (which Deidara tried to ignore), it was something or another by Mariah Carey. Which made him laugh. He didn't muffle it with his pillow fast enough, and a soft laugh and a shuffling beneath him told him that Sasori was definately awake -and had definately heard him.

"Laughing at Mariah? Shame on you, Dei-baby." Sasori said in a low voice, so Pain wouldn't wake up. Deidara sighed.

"I'm not making fun of her," he said quietly, "I just can't believe you listen to her. At this time of night, un." he said, and Sasori snorted. There was a long moment of silence, then Sasori broke. And made it very uncomfortable.

"You know, there's only a mattress and a thin layer of wooden slats separating our bodies." he said randomly into the silence. Deidara immediately blushed birght red, grabbed Colonel Tedd, and swung his arm over the side of the bunkbed, successfully hitting Sasori in the face. Sasori laughed.

"You still sleep with stuffies? That's so adorable." he said in his most sincere voice. Deidara buried himself down in his blankets before thrusting his arm out and over the railing again.

"Can you give him back?" he asked awkwardly.

"Tell me his name first." Sasori said. After a moment of severe hesitation, Deidara answered. "Colonel Tedd, huh? Not what I'd've expected from you. But still, it's cute. Here." he said, and Deidara's hand was met by the familiar soft fluff of his beloved teddy.

"Do you have any others?" Sasori asked from below, and Deidara rolled over. To lie, or not to lie? Hmm.

"A...a few, un." he said awkwardly.

"Can I see them?" Sasori asked, and Deidara scowled before leaning over the side of the bed to look at him.

Little did he know that Sasori had sat up. And had moved, so he was facing out. As soon as Deidara swung down, they were nose-to-nose in a Spidey kiss position. Deidara's eyes widened, and he blushed furiously. Sasori just looked at him, a symphony of desire in his bedroom eyes. Deidara quickly moved, and heard Sasori call him a party pooper under his breath. Returning to a more innocent topic, Deidara answered Sasori's old question.

"Um, I guess you can see them. But you're not allowed to tell anybody, un. Or laugh, okay?" he said, and he heard Sasori promise from down in the darkness below. As Deidara shuffled around his blankets, looking for the other stuffed animals, he heard a creak and the next thing he realized, Sasori was sitting across from him on his bed, holding a flashlight. Deidara stared at him for about ten seconds, then continued looking for his stuffed animals.

"This," he said finally, whipping out a tatty owl, "is Dr Hoo." he said, and Sasori pretended to shake hands with the old bird. "This," Deidara said, presenting his furry bunny, "is Spaceman Spiff. I've had him since I was born, un."

"Who's that?" Sasori asked with a small smile, pointing at the last stuffed animal behind Deidara. Deidara grinned and pulled out a large panda.

"This is Exploding Wednesday. Before you ask, yes, he does have a bomb inside him, but it's not activated." Deidara explained, and Sasori laughed.

"Well, I guess since you showed me yours, you can meet Narcissus and Bellatrix." Sasori said, tugging two bears out from behind him. Deidara was taken aback for a few minutes; _Sasori _has _stuffed animals!, _but he got over it, and gingerly picked them up, examining them. It was obvious at how worn the fur was in a few patches that they were really well-loved. Narcissus was white with a black heart on his stomach, and Bellatrix was his twin, black with a white heart.

"They're really cute, un." Deidara said honestly. He didn't add that their expressions rather unnerved him; their alluring, curiously amused stares were rather like Sasori's.

"Thanks." Sasori said, and Deidara almost collapsed from shock; Sasori almost sounded _shy!_

"Weeeelll...I guess you should go back down..." Deidara said finally, breaking the silence awkwardly. Sasori shot him a look.

"Aww, but Dei-baby! I want to stay _here _with _you_, and Exploding Wednesday, and Spaceman Spiff, and all the others!" he said in his most babylike voice, with an adorable pout, for good mesure. Deidara scowled.

"Down. Now. Perv, un." he sniffed, and Sasori whopped him with a pillow and shot him a wicked grin before desending the ladder and went back to his own bed. Deidara sighed as the flashlight was turned off, and he snuggled back down into his blankets. He closed his eyes and waited for sleep.

About ten minutes later, Sasori's voice floated up through the silence once more.

"Hey, Dei-baby...wanna do that spidey-kiss thing again?"

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Okay, so yeah, another short chapter, but don't worry! My Christmas break starts next week, so I'll have plenty more time to update! Thanks to all my reviewers, favouriters, subscirbers, etc! :3

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	4. Kiss and Tell

**Provocation:**-Chapter 5: **Temptation**

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Deidara opened his eyes. It was pretty dark in the room, but that was probably because there was only one window. He lay still and listened to the steady breathing of his roommates for a few moments. That was Pain...the one who rolled over and muttered something about 'city on fire'. And Sasori would be the one whose soft breaths somehow felt a lot closer than they should be..._felt!_

Deidara turned his head slightly, then looked down slightly. Uh huh...okay. Sasori's arm was around his waist, his chin tucked over Deidara's shoulder, his face buried in his long blonde hair, one leg pushed between Deidara's, and he was sucking one of his thumbs, like a child. This caught Deidara's attention for a moment: Sasori actually looked kind of cute... _NO WAY! NEVER THINK THAT AGAIN! GAAAAAAH! _

Deidara took a deep, albeit shaky, calming breath: _Okay. This is no time to panic, Deidara. If you __yell at him, you'll wake up Pain, and probably everybody else. That is a bad idea. The thing to do is to first escape. Good plan. _

He closed his eyes, hating Sasori with every bit of his essence in that moment, before sinking down into the blankets, and scootching along the mattress, attempting to slide out of the redhead's grasp. Unfortunately, the moment he got about six inches down, Sasori's arm closed once more around him, before hugging him tightly and rolling over. So that Deidara was pulled tightly against him, his cheek squashed against Sasori's warm, bare chest, his feet dangling off the end of the bed.

Deidara was reduced to falling back into one of his old childhood habits. He turned his head, and opened his mouth. As soon as his teeth bit down on Sasori's chest, Sasori's eyes flew open, he let go of Deidara, and sat up, scrambling away. "You _bit _me!" he exclaimed, rubbing the red bite marks, staring at Deidara, who was wiping his mouth and scowling.

"Well, _yeah!_ You're in my _bed! _You _grabbed _me, breaking all the personal-space rules, and you almost suffocated me!" Deidara hissed angrily, still trying to keep quiet so Pain didn't wake up. Sasori didn't seem to have heard him; he was looking down at the tooth marks on his chest, grinning.

"Geez, is this some kind of vampiric claiming thing?" he asked, looking up and smirking at Deidara, who whapped him in the face with a pillow.

"Ooh, a pillow fight. I'm in..." Sasori said, crawling forwards towards Deidara, making the bunkbed shake slightly. Deidara shuffled backwards quickly -into a wall. Sasori was there in an instant, pressing him up against the wall, his cool hands quickly relieving Deidara of his t-shirt. Deidara made a desperate grab for it, but Sasori chucked it over the side of the bed, staring at Deidara's chest.

"What? Don't tell me I'm turning you on, un." Deidara said sarcastically, looking for a way to get down from the bed. Sasori grinned suddenly, tracing his fingers lightly over the large tattoo over Deidara's heart.

"Actually, you're exactly right. This is sexy, Dei-da-ra..." Sasori said, meeting Deidara's wide eyes with his own, which Deidara noticed awkwardly, were full of desire. Deidara bit down hard on his bottom lip, turning his head so Sasori wouldn't see, to stop himself from shivering as the redhead's fingers gently carressed the large sewn-up mouth on his chest again. Sasori's other hand swiftly came up to Deidara's chin, turning his head back to face Sasori, whose eyes quickly found the bleeding lip and the tooth marks in it. Deidara defiantly watched his expression change as he looked from it to his other hand, which was still tracing the tattoo.

Just as a triumphant smirk appeared on Sasori's face, Deidara seized his chance -neither of Sasori's hands were pinning him down anymore-and forced the other boy off of him, before scrambling down the ladder. Sasori followed him, and Deidara suddenly realized that he was holding Exploding Wednesday like he was a baseball bat. Placing his arms in a more innocent, but still guarded, position at his sides, he glared at Sasori, who was leaning against the ladder, and was _definately _giving Deidara a twice-over in the darkened room, taking in his shirtless torso and his low-hanging boxers (which were quickly pulled up).

There was a long, awkward silence.

Finally, Deidara broke it; "Why were you in my bed, anyways?" he asked, crossing his arms. Sasori laughed quietly before answering the question in his most dreamy voice.

"I was cold." Deidara scowled.

"Why didn't you just put on a sweater or something, perv?" he asked, and Sasori shook his head, nodding at his bed. Deidara looked. On the bed were a longsleeve shirt, four pairs of socks, a sweatshirt, and a pair of dark blue sweatpants.

"Why weren't you wearing them, if you were cold?" Deidara asked, frowning. Sasori grinned.

"Well, after I gave up and went up to sleep with you-" at which point Deidara's scowl deepened at the phrasing of the readhead's sentance "-it was so much warmer, that I got too hot, so I had to take everything off again. You have an unusually high body temperature, you know. You're like a human hot-water bottle." Sasori said, stepping forwards. Deidara mirrored him, and stepped back.

Sasori stepped forwards again, smirking. Deidara stepped back, arguing that Sasori should just have put on more blankets, and that climbing into bed with one's new roommate is _not _the way to make a good impression. Sasori paused and smirked.

"What, are you Mr Darcy, or something? 'Your good impression, once lost, is lost forever', or something like that?" he asked, and Deidara blinked; this guy had read Pride and Prejudice? Surprising. His reply was interrupted and forgotten as Pain yawned loudly and rolled over, one of his arms dropping off his bed and dangling on the floor.

"World domination!..." he mumbled, before tossing over again. Sasori and Deidara stared at him for a moment. Then at the clock. It was ten minutes past eight. Meaning, they should be getting up. Deidara looked sideways at Sasori, who was already watching him with a big grin on his face. Simultaneously, they both walked forwards towards Pain's bed, positioned themselves perpendicular to it, then jumped at the same time, with loud yells, grabbing the closest bit of Pain and shaking it violently, yelling ceaselessly, yanking off the blankets and tossing pillows at anything that moved.

Pain was not the happiest camper that morning.

Deidara, Pain, and Sasori all walked together to breakfast; the others had already left. They got their trays and sat down at their table, where the others were already waiting for them.

Deidara turned to Sasori, about to ask him what class he had first, but his question died in his throat as a girl with dirty blonde hair pulled into four pigtails seemed to appear out of nowhere, walking past. Sasori immediately turned and slapped her ass. The girl turned around, smiling, and Sasori immediately pulled her down by her hand and kissed her. Deidara stared at them as they made out, completely shocked. He only recovered when Pain shook his shoulder and spun him around to face the other way.

"You okay?" Pain asked, and Deidara nodded slowly, before scowling.

"Who's that? Is that his girlfriend?" he asked, and Pain shook his head, smirking slightly.

"No. Sasori doesn't exactly date." Deidara blinked at him.

"You serious? The what the hell's he doing?" he asked, turning slightly to see if they were still making out. They were. Pain ran a hand through his messy hair.

"Well, I guess you could say that he...is a crazy flirt...? He never 'dates' anybody in the school, but he sure as hell makes out with almost all of them. Just for fun." Pain explained, and Deidara gaped at him.

"Almost all of them? Doesn't anybody say _no_?" he asked, shocked. Pain laughed.

"I've never seen anybody _not _say yes. I'd say that by the time he graduates, he'll've made out with _everybody _in this school. Except for the straight ones. And maybe the ones who are dating. But other than that, everybody." Deidara snorted. "If he doesn't, it won't be because he didn't try." he said, and Pain glanced at him, tugging his ear and grinning.

"What? Gee, you're a tough one. He's gonna have fun trying to get you, you know. I'd watch out, if I were you." Pain advised, and Deidara sighed.

"Why doesn't anybody else say no?' he asked, and Pain grinned again. "

Well, I assumed you'd already noticed, but Sasori's really sexy. I mean, he's not the only one..." Pain said, smirking, tugging his ear and glancing around their table and the other tables, pausing his gaze on certain people, making Deidara snort.

"No way, un. I thought you didn't like anybody here!" Deidara exclaimed, and Pain laughed and shook his head.

"Of course not! But _most _people in this school think that certain others are sexy or hot or whatever. I might not agree with them, because they're not my type, but it's kind of common knowledge that most people in third year have a crush on Sasuke, or his older brother, Itachi..." Pain began explaining various schoolwide obsessions or crushes, and Deidara listened to him, but couldn't help glancing over his shoulder every few seconds to check if Sasori was finished so he could yell at him. Just at one of these moments, when he'd looked over his shoulder, he turned back to find Pain smirking at him, eyebrows raised.

"You jealous?" he asked, and Deidara scowled, examining his nails cooly.

"Of course not, un. But does he actually make out with practically everybody?" he asked, and Pain nodded slowly, as if trying to remember.

"Yeah, most people...I guess he won't with people he thinks aren't his type...but most people are his type...do you like him, Deidara?" Pain asked, leaning forwards and balancing his chin on his left fist, elbow on the table. Deidara straightened and glowered at Pain.

"Not in the slightest, un." he said, and Pain raised his eyebrows before biting into his apple. Deidara waited a moment before asking the question that had been buzzing at the back of his mind for a while.

"Does he...you know..._do _it with any of them?" he asked in a tiny voice, and Pain looked at him sharply. Then he laughed.

"No way. Sasori hardly _likes _half the people he 'dates'. Why would he do _that _with them if he can't stand even _talking _to them?" he asked and laughed again. Deidara nodded, feeling some serious relief; at least Sasori probably didn't have Herpes, or something like that. Imagine if he lost his toothbrush, and had to borrow...ugh.

Deidara grabbed his half-finished tray and stood up, not feeling even remotely hungry anymore.

~O~O~O~

Deidara was half-way through completing his painting project, which was due in four classes, so he decided to take a break. He put down his brush, leaned back, and looked down at the partially-completed painting of the still life in front of him; a statue of an eagle, with chains draped around it and over the table. Deidara closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes. A moment (or perhaps ten minutes) later, he was woken up by an irritating, nasal voice rather close to his ear, speaking his name. He cracked open one thickly-lined eye, glaring at the person who had dared to wake him up.

"What?" he asked groggily as the beaming face of Ino, a third year, the one who'd asked if he was looking for a girlfriend, swam into view. "Hi Deidara!" she said coyly, twirling a long strand of her hair between her two fingers. He didn't miss that she'd changed her hairstyle to match his own almost perfectly. Copycat.

"Hey...what do you want?" he asked, swivelling around on his chair to look at her properly. As usual, her uniform was way too low-cut. He could see all the way down to Tokyo without even trying. Ino crossed his legs, and Deidara didn't need to check to know that if he looked, he'd be able to see whatever underwear she was -or wasn't- wearing.

"I was just wondering if you're going to the family reunion next month?" she asked, and Deidara could tell that she was hoping he'd go with her. He ran a hand absent-mindedly through his hair.

"Um, I don't want to...but they'll probably make me go, un. Are you going?" he asked, and she nodded.

"They'd stop paying for my clothes if I didn't." she said, rolling her heavily mascara'd eyes.

"Uh huh...How are you related to me again?" Deidara asked, and Ino repositioned herself so her chest stuck out slightly, her back arched.

"Second cousin. Hardly any blood relation." she said, giving him a heated look. Deidara scowled slightly; he could tell that she was trying to point out that they, in theory, could date and it supposedly wouldn't be incest, because there was 'hardly any blood relation'. Deidara looked out the window, ignoring Ino's attempts at conversation. Another family reunion caused problems...he'd much rather have Sasori sleep in his bed every day for the rest of the year than go...

_Wait...what the hell did I just think! Sasori...sleep in my bed! EWWW! GROSS! Okay, I'll just remove that thought from my memory...aaaaaand it's gone. Good. Now all I have to do is not think about Sasori at all for the next while, and I'll be- _

His thoughts were broken off as a dreamy, flirting voice that was horribly familiar broke into his thought bubble.

"Ino-bitch...you're in my chair." Ino crossed her arms, arching her back to show off more of her chest as she pouted up at Sasori.

"But Sasori...this isn't your chair, you know. You sit next to Itachi, normally. If you want to switch, you could sit next to me...we could even share the chair, if you like..." she said, and Deidara (who was glaring fixedly out the window) mentally retched. Sasori just smirked.

"That's okay. I'd rather sit next to Dei-baby right now..." he said, drifting off, and Deidara cringed slightly: A) Sasori wanted to sit next to him. B) Deidara was quite sure that Sasori was watching him. C) Deidara was positive that Ino would tell _everybody _what Sasori had just called him, effectively ruining his clean gossiped-about slate.

"Oh, fine. But if you change your mind, just say so. I'm not _totally _unavailable..." Ino said, standing up, letting Sasori slap her ass, and sashaying back to her place next to a girl with pink hair. Deidara snorted; she wasn't unavailable at _all._ He heard Sasori sit down next to him.

"Hey there, cutie." Sasori said, hooking the bottom of Deidara's chair, scooting him closer so their knees were touching. Deidara looked at him briefly, then out the window again. Sasori was genuinely puzzled.

"What's up?" he asked, and Deidara looked at him again, distaste quite evident on his face.

"I don't really want to talk to you. I thought I was making it obvious enough, but I don't like you. At all, un." Deidara said coldly, then turned away to look out the window, ignoring the inexplicable guilty feeling in his stomach.

Sasori was silent for a moment, then pulled Deidara's chair even closer, hooking his ankles around the chairlegs to stop Deidara pushing it away again. Deidara tried to avoid his gaze, but Sasori grabbed his chin, forcing his face around. Deidara glared at him while Sasori searched his eyes intently, his expression half-amused, half-curious.

"I don't think you mean that Deidara. I know you're lying, and I think you know it, too." he said in a low voice before moving quickly, eliminating the the thin gap of air between them, sealing Deidara's mouth (which had been about to protest) in a slow, sensual kiss.

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Okay! sorry for the slow update, things'll start picking up after Xmas, I promise! Ahhhhh this was an okay chapter, I think...I hope. I'm sorry to the Ino-lovers, I don't actually hate her, I just have trouble writing her when she's _not _like this...all bitchy and slutty and stuff. So, sorry.

YEAHH! woo! review please!


	5. Revenge

**Provocation-**Chapter 6: **Temptation**

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So, thanks again for all the reviews, favourites, and subscriptions. I'm really happy about this chapter, and I think this one could be my favourite so far...probably because of all the adorable SasoDeiness! 3 Okay, I'll shut up now!

Oh, I should probably mention...I DO NOT OWN NARUTO!

:) here we go!

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Deidara's eyes widened as Sasori's lips crashed into his own, his hands buried in his long hair, a warm, hard body pressing against his own. Deidara's heart was thundering in his head, his breath coming in short pants through his nose as Sasori forced his tongue into his mouth, sliding along his own until-

Sasori was thrown off of Deidara with such force that he almost fell off of his chair. Sasori caught a glimpse of Deidara's mutinous expression before a hard fist came crashing into his jaw, forcing him back and making him fall off his chair for real. The entire class, who had been watching from the start, grew even quieter, all eyes on the furious blonde boy standing over Sasori. Deidara's fists were clenched and shaking, his cheeks red, his dark-lined eyes slits of fury.

"I'll kill you if you ever even _try _to do that again, un." he said, rage and humiliation making his voice shake slightly. Sasori ran a hand lightly over the red mark on his jaw, where Deidara's fist had hit it, before looking up at him.

"You're not the best kisser, you know." he said with a smirk. As an answer, Deidara grabbed his bag, swung it over his shoulder, and walked out of the classroom, taking care to step on Sasori's hand on his way. "See you later, un." Deidara called to the teacher, who waved him out, and he was gone.

Sasori, all eyes on him, stood up, stretched, ruffled his perfectly messy hair, and sat back down at his desk, smirking at the ceiling, as if he was remembering an inside joke. Then he laughed, grabbed his bag, and followed after Deidara, calling to the teacher he was going too. then he left, leaving the class to stare after the two boys in an awed silence.

Deidara stormed along the halway, kicked a few pillars, and swore to himself while wiping his mouth furiously. _That -_bastard_- how dare he...? And in front of the whole damn class...how _dare_ he...and then to say that I'm not a good kisser...not that it matters, because it was a rape-kiss anyways, but still...Damnit..._

He was scowling so fiercely down at the floor that he hardly looked up. Sasori, guessing correctly where Deidara was heading -for the front doors- had taken a short cut, and was leaning against the wall as Deidara approached. Sasori smirked; he was really sexy when he was looking so mutinous. As the blonde boy approached, Sasori pushed himself away from the wall and took two steps. Deidara's next step took him right into Sasori's path. A cool hand reached out, tipping Deidara's chin up to look at Sasori's grinning face as another arm shot out and around, looping itself around Deidara's waist.

"Hey there, sexy. Come here often?" Sasori asked in a low voice, leaning so his mouth was just at Deidara's ear. Deidara bit his lip, biting straight through his old scab, making it bleed again, before giving Sasori the most angry glare he could muster.

"Get. Off. Me." he gritted, trying unsuccessfully (it was a bad angle) to fling Sasori's arm off of him. Sasori smirked, moving his mouth down Deidara's neck softly down to his collarbone, nibbling it slightly, Deidara holding in his moans.

"No..." Sasori spoke against Deidara's skin, "...I don't think I will, Dei..da..ra... I like doing this to you." he said seductively, biting down on Deidara's collarbone before suddenly tugging Deidara's chin forwards into another kiss.

Deidara immediately began trying to free himself from Sasori's grip, but the redhead was walking them backwards quickly, and Deidara's fate was practically sealed as he felt stone wall press up against his back. As soon as Deidara was unable to move, Sasori dove in, kissing him softly, seductively, tugging on Deidara's lower lip with his teeth, exploring the inside of his mouth with his tongue, shoving a hand up Deidara's shirt, travelling over his chest, shoulders and back, pulling lustfully at the blonde's belt, tugging unmercifully on his earlobe...

_I've got him, _Sasori thought triumphantly as he kissed wantonly up Deidara's neck, _he's mine now. No more running Deidara, I've gotta have more of this... _Deidara was beginning to feel quite numb. He had tried to struggle and free himself, but to absolutely no avail. So he just stood there, staring blankly at the opposite wall, trying (it took a lot of effort) not to react to what Sasori was doing at all. Finally, his attacker seemed to want a break, and simply rested his chin on Deidara's shoulder, his mouth at his neck.

"Are you quite finished, un?" he asked icily. Sasori's dark, lust-filled eyes glanced up at him in surprise.

"I guess you're not getting any, huh? Can't you just release your sexual tension some other way? 'Cause I've gotta go." Deidara said, catching Sasori by surprise and somehow managing to shove the redhead off of him. He strode away, his long blonde hair waving behind him.

"See ya, manwhore." he said, tossing his hair over his shoulder before rounding the corner, leaving Sasori leaning against the wall, looking as stunned as if Deidara had just slapped him in the face.

Deidara walked along a few halls until he officially wasn't sure where he was. He sat down on a bench opposite what looked like a drama room, and took out his blackberry. He didn't use it much, because he'd really rather talk to people than hurt his neck staring at a tiny screen, but this was a special occasion. He scrolled down the long list of numbers he'd been given during the previous few days, until he found what he was looking for: Ino Yamanaka. He pressed the call button, and waited until she picked up.

"Yellow?" she answered, and Deidara bit back a laugh: he'd never talked to anybody who answered with 'yellow' instead of 'hello'.

"Hey." he said, and he heard Ino's footsteps pause for a second before continuing. "Hey Deidara! What can I do for you?" she asked, and Deidara suddenly got an idea that she ran some kind of 'business' or something. He shook his head and answered, a wicked smile on his face; he'd stomp on Sasori's ego if it was the last thing he did!

"Well, I was just thinking that it really would be a good idea if we went to the family reunion together, un. I can get us a ride there and everything." he said, grinning triumphantly as Ino squeeled in excitement on the other end.

"Awesome, Dei! That's a great plan! Omigosh, I'm so happy, I was like, dying, imagining going by myself...ugh...you know, uncle Bones keeps hitting on me, and it's creeping me out.." she continued to gossip about whoever and whatever, not running out of steam even after ten minutes. Finally, Deidara feared for his minutes.

"Hey, Ino, I've gotta go, but I'll talk to you later, okay?" he said, and she agreed before hanging up. Deidara turned his phone off and smirked vindictively down at it: Sasori didn't know what was coming for him.

* * *

Okay, a super short chappie, but since I updated with three at once, I hope you won't be too mad :(

I was feeling really brain-dead this morning after eating half a ton of chocolate at Christmas...aaaaa i feel fat...but happy...and yeah...:S

Merry Christmas everybody!


	6. Lollipop

**Provocation-**Temptation: 7

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Hey everybody! Thanks again to everyone who reviewed, favourited, etc. I really appreciate it, and it's what keeps this story coming. So don't stop!  
Once again, thank you to everybody, and...I DON'T OWN NARUTO OR ITS CHARACTERS (only in keychain form ;P)

* * *

Deidara scowled; it was lunchtime, and he was sitting purposefully on Pain's right instead of his left, hoping that Sasori would take the unspoken hint that Deidara did _not _want him to sit next to him. But despite this effort, he had a serious hunch that Sasori would take no notice whatsoever of his changement of place. Either that or he would notice, but wouldn't take the hint on purpose.

Deidara was jolted out of his thoughts by Pain, who leaned over slightly, the straw of his orange juicebox in his mouth, a small smirk on his face.

"Hey, Deidara...I heard this funny story from Itachi..." he began, and Deidara slammed his fork down on his table, and turned to face him, his scowl deepening.

"What is it?" he asked in a rather dangerous tone, and Pain grinned, continuing all the same. "Well, I was just wondering if you still hate Sasori as much as you did. I heard that you were making out with him last class." he finished simply, biting into his sandwich. Deidara felt several veins pop up on his head.

"I WAS NOT MAKING OUT! IT WAS AN UNWANTED ATTACK! AN AMBUSH! A RAPE-KISS! I DID NOT LIKE IT AT ALL, UN!" Deidara roared, punctuating every word with a stab of his fork into the bench. Pain laughed and patted his shoulder before opening his mouth to say something like 'it's okay, I was just kidding', when another voice interrupted him.

"Y'know, Dei-baby, it really sounds like you're trying to convince yourself." Sasori said, smirking, as he gracefully sat down on Deidara's left, placing his tray on the table in front of him.

"_You _are not allowed to sit next to me any more, pervert, un." Deidara said coolly, turning his back purposefully on Sasori.

_Good, _he thought to himself, facing Pain and begging him with his eyes to make conversation, _Good. Now, all I have to do is wipe my memory of _everything _Sasori did to me..._Deidara smiled to himself, pretending to listen to Pain, who had given up on him and was talking with Itachi. It was quite simple to think of everything Sasori had done to him during the ten seconds in class and the thirty seconds out of class and convince himself that it had not felt _good _at all, it had felt very, very _bad. _The only problem began when Sasori started blowing gently at the back of Deidara's neck. Choosing to ignore it pointedly, Deidara continued 'forgetting Sasori Akasuna'.

A complete faliure.

Sasori, annoyed by being ignored, reached an arm out, slid it around Deidara's waist, and tugged. Deidara, who was half-way through convincing himself that Sasori's way of saying his name slowly was _not _sexy at all, was caught by surprise; he fell back against Sasori's chest. Sasori shoved his red lollipop into his mouth before he began to play with Deidara's hair.

"You're very pretty, y'know." he said around the cherry-flavoured candy stick. Deidara was about to do something violent involving throttling Sasori then banging his head on the table, but he didn't get a chance. A pale-blonde blur zoomed between them, accompanied with a squeal of joy.

"_DEIDARAAAA! _Aww I missed you~!" Ino cried as she shoved Sasori with her hip, almost sending him flying, and wrapped her arms around Deidara, who was staring at her.

"Um, hi, Ino..." he said slowly, not understanding why she was so happy.

"Oooh I'm excited already about Friday, Dei!" she said happily, sitting on his lap and wrapping her arms around his neck. Deidara stared at Pain, a very clear 'help me!' on his face. Pain grinned at Deidara, then looked at Sasori. An evil aura was seeping out of the angry redhead, who was glaring at Ino as if she'd just feed his dog arsenic.

"Ino, move." Pain said simply, but with a dangerous undertone that none of the people sitting at their table missed. Ino bravely (most likely it was stupidly) paused.

"Go, Ino." Pain clarified, and she left in a hurry, but not before giving Deidara sultry wink. Deidara remained frozen in place, kind of appalled by Ino's action. He finally regained his ability to move in time to see a hand shoot out, grab his wrist, a cherry lollipop get shoved into his mouth, and an angry redhead drag him out of the lunch hall.

As soon as they were out, Sasori turned and tugged them into a dark, rarely- used corridor, pressing Deidara against the wall.

"Wha' 'e 'ell are 'ou 'oing?" he asked around the lollipop. Sasori glared at him.

"Are you dating Ino?" he asked angrily. Deidara was flabbergasted for a few moments, before thinking that Sasori could possibly be...

"You're 'ot 'ealous or 'omething, are you?" he asked, and Sasori scowled.

"_No _I'm _not_." he said, more to himself than to Deidara, glaring down at his feet. Deidara raised his eyebrows.

"Oh 'eally? I 'ink 'ou _are, _un!" he said, grinning. Sasori glanced up at him from below his dark lashes, and Deidara almost choked; Sasori was _blushing. _Deidara grinned before realizing that Sasori almost looked cute. Really cute. Adorable. But still, _almost._

"Shut up, brat." Sasori said, still blushing, before slowly tugging the lollipop out of Deidara's mouth, and replacing it with his own lips. Deidara's eyes widened, the words 'Sasori' and 'Adorable' still whirling around his head. Too soon, Sasori drew back, keeping his eyes carefully locked on Deidara's.

"Don't let her kiss you." was all he said before he put the lollipop into his mouth, pushed himself away from the blonde and walked back to the lunchroom, stuffing his hands in his back pockets. Deidara stood against the wall, shocked, the sugary taste of the cherry lollipop still in his mouth.

oOoOoOo

He didn't bother going to his last-block class. He went straight to his room, grabbed some clay from the huge supply he'd brought with him, and went outside. After ten minutes or so, he'd finished a rather nice representation of Sasori's head. He'd put in a rather large amount of explosive powder into that particular piece of art, so he ran immediately after shoving the match into the statuette. He turned just in time to watch his art; a huge ball of fire, bright and warm, before dissipating into a cloud of dust and smoke.

Feeling a lot better, he hopped the fence again, and returned to his room again, this time to read Hetalia. And to forget all about Ino and Sasori. Especially Sasori. Particularly his cherry lollipop. And his eyes, his heavily-lidded, sometimes burgundy, dreamy, bedroom eyes. And his perfectly messy dark-red hair. And his cool, soft skin. But most importantly, his sexy smirks, his seductive voice, and... _Dammit this isn't helping. _

Poor Deidara tried to forget everything about Sasori for a good two hours. But just as he'd successfully stopped thinking about him, guess who came into the room, a cherry lollipop sticking out of his mouth?

* * *

Well, another short chapter, but it's New Year's Eve, so...yaa.

Thanks for all the reviews and everything, and happy new year!


	7. Racing Darkness

**Provocation**-Chapter 8: **Temptation**

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That evening, Deidara was the last one back into the room, for the first time that year. He had purposefully stayed late in the clay room for two reasons: A) He really didn't want to be stuck with Sasori in their room for hours, because Pain always came in hours late, and B) He secretly wanted Sasori to wonder where he was.

So it was a good hour and a half past curfew when he finally pushed the door open to their shared room. The room was completely dark, and since there was no light coming in from the window, Deidara assumed that it must be a New Moon. He stepped towards the bunk bed, stripped off his shirt and pants, and put a hand on the first rung of his ladder. A cool hand on his shoulder almost made him yell, and he whirled around, blood from his lip filling his mouth.

"Where have you been?" Sasori's voice asked quietly, and for the first time, there was absolutely no humeur in it. It was perfectly calm, perfectly cold. Deidara smirked, triumphant, but there was a nagging feeling of gult in his stomach again. Forcing it down as he remembered what Sasori had put him through earlier in the day, he crossed his arms.

"What's it to you?" he asked challengingly in a whisper. He could just make out Sasori's forehead crease in a frown as he stepped back slightly and put a thumb to his mouth.

"I... I don't know. I was just worried." Sasori said, almost defensively. Deidara was surprised at the obvious honesty in his voice.

"Um...oh. Well, er...thanks, I guess, un." he replied awkwardly, leaning back against the ladder. This was definitely _not _the scenario he had imagined upon his return. One glance at Pain's empty bed told him that their roommate was _still _not there, so their conversation was private. Sasori sighed and turned away, running a hand through his red hair.

"Well...whatever. Deidara..." he looked around at the blonde, his thumb still in his mouth like a kid. Deidara looked up, hearing the earnesty in Sasori's voice. It was as if all the dreamy, seductive, sexuality of the redhead's voice was a layer that had momentarily been peeeled away, leaving something...more innocent.

"I'm sorry, I guess, if you're mad at me for earlier...I don't feel bad for what I did, at _all..._" -Sasori flashed a brief smirk, and Deidara rolled his eyes- "But I don't want you to be angry. I really really don't." he finished finally, leaning against the wall and looking at Deidara steadily. The blonde boy was suprised by Sasori's honesty, and for about ten seconds, he seriously considered giving him a hug, but thankfully he quelled the urge.

"Well, okay then, un. Good night." he said instead, and clambered up the ladder, leaving Sasori standing against the wall.

The next morning, Deidara woke up at 6 am. Normally, waking up at that hour would have been his very own hell-in-bed, but today he got out of bed with only _one _rude word instead of the usual six. He slid down the ladder, taking care not to make any sound, and began to stuff some essentials into his bag.

Money, money, money...and a granola bar. Plus his phone.

He took a few minutes to carefully write a note on Pain's arm explaining where he'd gone -Pain being, of course, the heaviest sleeper _ever!- _with a sharpie. Deidara was just stepping out the door when he made the mistake of glancing at Sasori, expecting a sleeping face. But no. What he saw instead was the most unhappy, Where-the-hell-are-you-going-at-this-time-of-day! scowl. Plus rumpled hair, crossed arms, and a sleep-deprived visage.

"Deidara..." Sasori growled, not even bothering to be quiet. Deidara was frozen in place. His only options were to give up, text Ino that he _wasn't _going, and explain to Sasori.

Or he could run.

"Deidara, where the fuck are you going!" Sasori yelled as Deidara slipped out the door, slamming it behind him as he dashed down the boy's hallway. He was laughing, oblivious to the 100+ boys in bed swearing at the rude awakening. Somehow, this had to be the funniest thing ever. Sasori was now chasing him in his red plaid boxers, swearing at him as they both ran out of the boy's hallway.

"STUPID PIECE OF CRAP! You're fucking lucky I like you, or you'd be_ dead_ already!" Sasori shouted from behind him. Deidara smirked as he sped around one corner, then another, then another... Finally, it was silent except for the sound of his breathing. Triumphant, Deidara whipped his cell out of his pocket, and texted Ino (barf) that he'd meet her outside the school in ten minutes.

Slipping his phone back into his pocket, Deidara grinned, remembering with relish the furious expression on Sasori's face as he'd sprinted after him down the hallways. Not every day you see a person _that _pissed-off. He turned around and continued walking towards the front doors of the school. Everything was fine, now.

He'd already told Tsunade that he'd be going to a funeral soonish, so she wouldn't shit a cow when she found out he was gone, (of course, he hadn't mentioned Ino was coming with him, so...lols) his classes (except for sculpture) were boring crap so far, so he didn't mind skipping, and he needed to get away from the crazy gossip anyways.

Deidara's smirk faded into a scowl as he remembered some of the ones he'd heard last night; '_...apparently he's Sasori's bitch...' '...Don't know what Pain does when they're making out all over the place...' '...pretended not to like him! Maybe it's some kind of role-play...' '...anyways it's totally hot yaoi, so just hand me some tissues, and I'll be fine!' _Okay that last one was Deidara's imagination, but there _were _some serious perverts in the school. Namely, his red-headed roommate. Speaking of which...

"You took long enough." Deidara jumped about a foot. Standing right in front of him, leaning against the wall and fully dressed in a loose black-and-red striped longsleeve and black jeans was Sasori, glaring at him with his dreamy eyes.

"W-What the crap? How the hell did you get here so fast!" Deidara gasped, his cocky smirk long forgotten. Sasori stepped away from the wall, casually put a hand on Deidara's shoulder, and proceeded to pin him against the wall. Deidara was too stunned to stop him before it was too late.

"I guess you just walk slow when you're smirking like a total prick." Sasori said, the shadow of a grin on his pouting mouth. Deidara blinked; even if that was true, it was impossible for Sasori to have gone back to the room, changed, and then beaten Deidara to the front door. Sasori's smile faded as quickly as it had come.

"Where are you going, Deidara?" he asked seriously, frowning. Deidara was about to lie, but decided that there was no point now.

"I'm going to a funeral, un." Sasori's dark eyes narrowed.

"With..?" he prompted, and Deidara shrugged.

"Nobody in particular." he said passively. Just then, the front doors to the school opened, and a shrill voice sang into the darkness; "Dei-dei! Where _are _you? Aren't we, like, going now~?" Flirtation in all the wrong ways was dripping from her voice, and Sasori and Deidara stared at Ino, identical expressions of disbelief on their faces, but for different reasons.

"I can't...believe...how _shrill _she is...un..." Deidara murmured, staring at the blonde girl who was impatiently leaning against the doors, filing her nails. Sasori was staring at Deidara.

"You're going with _her?_" he asked in utter disbelief.

"Yeah...we're related, un." Deidara said awkwardly, and Sasori snorted, backing away.

"Well fine. But you're sure you're not just running away?" he asked the blonde boy, who smirked and rolled his eyes, about to say that running away with _Ino _was the _last _thing on his to-do list, but he was interrupted by a squeak of glee.

"Ooooh! Are we _eloooooooping, _Dei-dei! You should have _told _me, I'd've brought more lingerie..." Ino said, twisting her long hair around her fingers.

"Some..._more...?_" Deidara asked, suddenly kind of scared of her. Sasori snorted and patted him on the back.

"Good luck. But...don't forget..." he said in a low voice close to Deidara's ear. Deidara turned to ask what he meant, and was met by Sasori's mouth, suddenly crashing into his own, kissing him fiercely, but it quickly became soft and more meaningful. Too slow, Deidara backed away, rubbing at his bruised mouth and scowling at Sasori, who winked at him before vanishing into the darkness of the empty hallway.

"See ya...Dei..da..ra..." his seductive voice echoed around the stone walls, ringing in Deidara's ears. Frowning and inwardly cursing Sasori forever, he rubbed his ears and looked at Ino, who...hadn't seen a thing. She'd been applying more mascara with her compact. _Oh well, _Deidara thought as they set off together into the rain, _at least she won't bug me about it on the way there..._

But, of course, Ino was happy enough to bug Deidara about _everything else! _

"So, Dei-dei, what's your type? Girl-wise, I mean. Do you like...seductive?" she asked, putting her arms behind her head, winking, and throwing out her chest in the most un-seductive way Deidara could think of.

"Um...no, un." he said shortly, trying not to stare at the oddity before him.

"Hmm. How about...shy-and-you're-bringing-them-out-of-their-shell?" she asked, putting a finger between her lips and placing the other hand on her knees, twisting and looking up at him from under her long bangs. Honestly, she looked more like she was just squeezing her boobs together with her arms. The bus bounced, and luckily she fell out of the pose.

"Well?" she pressed, and Deidara sighed, regretting for about the millionth time since they'd boarded the bus, that he'd taken Ino with him. It wasn't like she was stupid, or a complete bitch (not to him, at least). She was just _so ANNOYING! _He decided to make up some crap to keep her happy for a bit. He'd learned in the last half an hour that if he didn't pay attention to her, she'd _make _him pay attention, I.E. flash him, bite his ear, etc.

"Um, I guess that's not my type either, un." he said shortly before looking out the window again. Ino frowned.

"Okay, what about...super peppy and girly?" She asked, simpering at him while making a peace-sign over one eye, the other hand on her hip.

"Absolutely not, un." Deidara said, not even bothering to look; peppy people made him ill. They were just so...happy...and peppy...and noisy...and a cheerleader had once broken his nose.

Ino sighed heavily. "Well, what about...a kitty?" she asked, making revolting purring sounds (more similar to retching than anything else) and batting a fist at him. "I don't like cats, un."

"Super genious?"

"I'd feel dumb, un."

"Emo chick?"

"Too quiet. And scary, un."

"Sporty?"

"I'd feel out of shape, un."

"Bookish?"

"Nah."

"Traditional?"

"Too uptight, un."

"God, Dei-dei! What _is _your type?" Ino demanded, exasperated. Deidara frowned at her, thinking. He could always say that he was asexual...which was probably a lie. Or he could say that his type is Chuck Norris...or he could actually try and answer the question.

"Just...describe your type. Stuff you'd like about a person." Ino said finally.

"Okay..." Deidara began to consider everything and everyone he'd ever liked, and why he'd liked them.

"Well, I suppose that they have to be funny, un. I mean, I like to laugh, but I think things are funnier if they're not jokes. You know, just funny stuff, un. Also, I'd prefer it if they were nice. You know, good morals, but maybe they break some rules...And...I suppose I don't like serious people,un. So I guess if they teased a little that would be okay..."

"What about sexually?" Ino asked, and Deidara almost gagged on her boldness, but answered anyways. "I suppose it would be fun if they were kind of crazy...like not uptight about stuff like that."

"Experienced?" Ino pressed, and Deidara shrugged.

"Yeah, I guess, un. I mean, if they weren't, then it wouldn't be as much fun the first time- what the hell are you asking me, anyways?" he asked, suddenly realizing that he was telling Ino -_Ino, _of all people- his sexual preferances.

"Just keep going, it's fun." she said, so he did, rolling his eyes.

"What about physically?" she asked, and Deidara thought.

"Well, it would depend on how much I like them,un. If I _really, really _like them, then I probably wouldn't care much how they looked, un. But for first impressions, I normally like stuff you notice right away. Like, those details you notice straight away, un. Like, really striking eyes, or a catchy smile or..." Deidara broke off, staring out the window. Ino gave him some peace as she filed her nail, leaving him to his suddenly horrified thoughts. Considering all he had just said...could it be that his type actually fit somebody he knew _perfectly...! _

A) Funny, funny stuff - No matter how annoying Sasori could be, everything he did was funny when Deidara thought about it.

B) Nice, Good(ish) morals - Sasori's not by-the-book in _any _sense of the word, but he doesn't sleep around.

C) Teasing - Sasori's a pro at that.

D) Kind of crazy in bed, experienced - Sasori, hands down. (Deidara didn't even have to think about it: the idea of Sasori being _shy _in bed was absolutely absurd...like Santa Claus watching child porn)

E) Really striking eyes, catchy smile - Sasori's dreamy eyes = totally noticable._  
_

Deidara choked slightly as he realized this, and panic overtook him for a few seconds...DID HE HAVE A CRUSH ON THE MOST PERVERTED PERSON HE'D MET IN HIS WHOLE LIFE! No, no...taking deep breaths, Deidara began to go over the logical reasons why he might be thinking about Sasori.

Seeing as the person he'd seen the most for the last while was Sasori, it was perfectly normal for him to be dominating his thoughts...right? And Sasori had been assaulting his body! Or, his mouth at least, so his subconscious was probably just bringing up bad memories at random intervals...or something.

As the bus careened around bumpy corners, the rain thundering down on its roof, splattering against its windows, its two passengers sat next to each other, each ensconsed in his own thoughts. Ino, contemplating how to become more attractive to Deidara, he latest prey, and Deidara, drowning in the idea that he might be crushing on his pervy roommate.

And still the rain beat down.

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I'M SORRRRRYYYYYY~~~! Sowwysowwysowwysowyy! I'm sorrrrrryyyy! I was so busy, and then I wanted to do something else, and...EXCUSES aside, here's the new chapter! I know it really didn't get anywhere in the plot, but I just needed the feel of this story back, so I'm glad I did it anyways. Thank you to the kind reviewers who got me up off my ass to write this! Namely, **13Nessie13**, **and Charxilyn :) **But a big thanks to everybody who's stuck with this story! :D I really love you all for reading and reviewing! **  
**


	8. You're the One

I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR ANY SONGS/MOVIES MENTIONED IN THE FOLLOWIG CHAPTER!

Mkay, now that that's overwith...Yay I updated! O_o at long last, I know...*shaaaaaame*...anyways, I'm glad that you're reading this! Yes, you! Thanks, as always, to my reviewers, etc. Luv you all! Especially **Queen-of-Darkness-Otaku **who literally got me off of my butt (well...I did stand up and do a whole epic 'I MUST UPDATE!' thingy) and made me update! Thanks so much for your dedication, everybody!

* * *

**You're the one  
**

"Your stop." the gruff voice of the bus driver sliced through the awkward silence in the bus.

Those two words, even from the lips of the gnarly, cross-eyed man at the wheel of the most rickety bus in history, felt like Manna from heaven to Deidara, who leapt to his feet and almost ran off, a whining Ino on his tail.

"How much longer, Dei-Dei? I want to change before we get there..." Ino sighed, tightening her ponytail. Deidara checked his cellphone for the time and looked up and down the road. They had been on that bus for about three hours. Although it wasn't dark yet, it certainly wasn't sunny, either.

"We just have to walk for about twenty minutes, and there's a gas station on the way, so you can change, un." he said shortly to Ino, who popped her gum and sighed.

"Well, okay then."

An hour later (Ino had taken forty minutes to change, believe it or not...), they were standing outside the dining hall of a country club.

"Tickets?" Deidara looked down at a short preteen guy who clearly wasn't related to them. He popped his gum, and Deidara handed him the tickets.

"Just through there." he said, gesturing towards the double doors to the right.

"Deidara! Ino! Glad you could come...drinks are over there." It was an uncle Deidara hadn't seen for years. He had changed a lot...probably plastic surgery...

"Drinks? Thank _God _I am parched!" Ino said, rolling her eyes and shoving her coat at Deidara. He took off his own, draped it on a chair, and dumped Ino's under a table before going in the opposite direction to her. "Hey, Sophie, un." he said, nodding at his niece. She squealed and leapt for him in a rugby-tackle around his waist. Deidara caught her, grinning, and span her around before putting her back down next to her mother, (Deidara's sister-in-law), Marie. "Hey Deidara," she said, kissing him on both cheeks like she always did. "Hi Marie. How's Jizabel?" "Fine, thanks." "Okay...I'm gonna go see the others, un."

"See ya. Sorry about your loss, etc." "Yeah, yeah. Thanks, un." Deidara walked away, seeing Ino chatting up Marie's brother Jacob, her face already pink, a half-empty wineglass in her hand. Deidara rolled his eyes. Not like his family cared about giving alcohol to minors or anything, but Ino didn't have to be so _blatant _about it. After forty minutes, Deidara couldn't take any more.

Family reunions had never been his thing, since he kind of hated his extended family, and they hated him so obviously that it was a wonder they didn't send him mailbombs. But of course, thought Deidara with a smirk on his face, they hate explosions so much that to them, sending a mailbomb would be the same as wrapping up and mailing the plague, to anybody else.

Setting down his empty bottle of tequila, he took his coat and left the building. The cool breeze was very refreshing as he began walking down the dark streets towards the nearby park. He sat down in the parking lot, and took out his cellphone.

Switching it on, he opened his inbox and found several new messages. Three were from Sasori. As Deidara clicked 'Read all', he felt an odd warm sensation deep in his stomach, like he'd just drunk a mug of hot chocolate.

He ignored it and read the first one, from Sasori; _hey r u there yet? Ino attacked u yet? U better reply, ditcher. Art was so boring /out u. Luvya, txt soon stupid. _Deidara snorted and shook his head. He hit the 'reply' button, then quickly moved his thumbs over the keys, texting a reply.

'_Yes I'm there, sucks. Ino's drunk alrdy. U deserve to b bored, molester :P' _He went back to the inbox and read the next one, which was from Pain.

_Ddra, sup? Sasori's pissed to hell tht ur gone. Srsly, he's not talking, and he threw coffee the art teacher. Good luck getting him to get over U.' _Deidara rolled his eyes and hoped the art teacher was okay.

He replied; '_He's just PMSing. Is the teacher OK?' _

The next message was again from Sasori, sent just two hours ago. '_Deidara, r u coming back yet? It's boring. I'm lonely. I wanna touch u. Loserface, come back!'_

Deidara stared at the message, surprised. _I'm lonely. I wanna touch u. _Seriously? Deidara replied quickly, frowning.

_'Freak, do HW if ur bored! I'm not ur toy! Talk 2 Pain or something. U wanna touch me? U get more and more perverted every day! Stop it!' _

Next message was again from Sasori. '_Fuck this, I'm coming to get u. Don't go anywhere.' _Deidara's eyes widened, and he began to reply quickly_, _but before he had even gotten halfway through one sentance, his phone vibrated with a new text. He clicked 'read', and his eyes skimmed over Sasori's new message.

'_Dei u replied! UR right, I deserve to be bored, but I'm spoiled and not used to it. So I'm getting what I want :P. On bus right now. Pain won't lend me his bike- something like he doesn't trust me to drive it. WTF. Btw, Ur more exciting than Hw, anyway, babe, + u r my toy. Accept it. See u soon. Not gonna stop.' _

Deidara muttered '_right, un_' under his breath, shaking his head, It was _so _Sasori to say such things. He was halfway through a reply when a voice suddenly spoke over his shoulder. He jumped in fear and almost dropped his phone. He turned to see a masked man behind him. After two seconds of complete shock, the other man spoke.

"Hey, Deidara! Woah, so crazy! What are _you _doing here! Aren't you supposed to be at school, huh? Super coincidence!" Deidara recognised the peppy, excited voice immediately.

"Hey, you're Tobi! What are you doing all the way out here, un?" he asked, more surprised than glad to see the other man. Tobi was an acquaintance of Deidara's dad, and the two had chatted randomly before, but Deidara had felt that the man tried too hard to be chummy with him. It was kind of creepy how friendly he was.

Tobi put his hands on his hips and laughed, helping Deidara up by the armpits.

"I was just hanging around, you know! I skipped a meeting or two, 'cuz this place has got the craziest playgrounds! And you should _taste _the gelatos around here...Mmmmm! They're super!" He said, rubbing his stomach. Deidara nodded, but secretly he was thinking that the gelatos in the area tasted more like hard frozen yoghurt mixed with old fruit juice. Not nice, honestly.

"What are you doing out here so late, Deidara? Don't tell me...some dumb explosions again? Teenagers these days...always setting fire to garbage cans...hehehe!" he said, giggling as Deidara's casual expression darkened into a disgusted scowl.

"Oh, oh, I struck a nerve!" Tobi teased, jumping from foot to foot. Deidara narrowed his eyes, rather aware of the blood rushing in his ears.

"Oh, and your hairstyle is new, isn't it? Are you trying to impress that pretty cousin of yours by copying her hairstyle? Wouldn't that make you a...wannabe?" he asked cheekily. Deidara swore.

"_I _had my hair like this _first, _stupid, un! And explosions are _art, _not _dumb_! I'll kill-"

"Ooh, foul language!" Tobi chortled. Deidara, the alcohol igniting his emotions further, seized the front of Tobi's shirt. Suddenly, he was being pressed against the wall of the parkade, with Tobi's hidden face not five centimetres from his own. It was noticeably silent now that they weren't talking, and Deidara took into account for the first time, that Tobi was surprisingly strong, considering his average build.

"What are you doing, un?" Deidara asked angrily, trying to free his wrists as Tobi leaned in, pushing one of his legs between Deidara's.

"Hey," There was a new voice. Deidara and Tobi turned to look at the newcomer, but it was so dark that Deidara couldn't see anything. Suddenly Tobi was punched hard in the face, and he fell away from Deidara and the wall, staggering. Deidara rubbed his wrists and looked around, trying to see in the darkness. There were two figures in front of him, fighting. One of them was clearly winning; they were faster, and dodged most of Tobi's punches. Finally, Tobi left, after getting punched in the face several times.

"See ya later, Deidara!" he called out before fading away into the darkness.

Deidara leaned back against the wall of the parkade, rubbing his throbbing head; he'd drunk more than he remembered. He'd have to worry about Tobi later, right now, he had to worry about his impending hangover...

Suddenly something touched him. He yelled and staggered away, tripping on a cinderblock on the ground. He lost his balance and began to fall, but something caught at his wrist and pulled him back up into a hug. Despite his inebriated and disoriented state, there was no mistaking those slim arms, that messy, soft hair, and the smell of a cherry lollipop.

"Asshole. I thought you were somebody else, un." Deidara muttered, slowly putting his arms around his 'assailant'. Sasori laughed quietly.

"Surprise, Deidara. Miss me?" he asked teasingly. Deidara didn't answer. Suddenly, _another _hand grabbed his arm and pulled him away, shoved him against the wall, and pinned him.

"What now?" he muttered. The smell of cheap hooker perfume and alcohol assaulted his senses, and he groaned. Sasori leaned against the wall next to him.

"Ino, what are you doing here?" he asked but she didn't answer. Instead, her hips were suddenly crushing against Deidara's, her hair was draping over his shoulders and chest, her lips were at his mouth, her fingers clawing drunkenly at his hair.

"So..._hot.._" she sighed, ghosting over his mouth as she tried to tear his jacket off.

"Ino, get _off, _un." Deidara said in annoyance, trying to push her away. She was leaning on him completely, though, and he wasn't exactly sober, so she didn't move. Her lips met Deidara's, her teeth bit down on his lower lip...and she was pushed aside, her mouth replaced with Sasori's. Ino started whining, and tugging at Deidara's belt buckle, but she quickly gave up and tottered back.

Deidara hadn't paid her any attention. He was too busy waging a mental war with himself. As Sasori's tongue filled his mouth with the taste of lollipops, sliding over his own, sucking on his lips, Deidara was trying to decide whether or not to bother pushing him off.

It was incredibly hard to think when his brain was affected by the numerous drinks he'd consumed that night, not to mention his senses being completely overwhelmed by Sasori's expert kisses, licks, strokes, and tugs on his hair.

Finally, Deidara just stopped thinking. He quickly took control of the situation, flipping Sasori against the wall. He began kissing Sasori, dominating the kiss, deepening it, taking short breaks to kiss and bite at Sasori's neck before going back in.

After only a few seconds, Sasori was moaning, pressed against the wall. Their chests were flush against each other, Deidara's leg was between Sasori's, his hair tangled in Sasori's fingers. Finally, Deidara pulled away, breathing heavily.

He looked down, his vision fuzzy, to see Sasori staring up at him, his cheeks red, panting, a look of complete wonder and rapture on his delicate features. There was a long pause as they just looked at each other, their breaths mingling in the smouldering silence of the parking lot.

Then Sasori leaned forward slowly and kissed Deidara's neck, hardly lustfully, but like a caress. He continued kissing like this down across Deidara's collarbone, until the blonde boy couldn't take any more. He kind of collapsed onto Sasori, who caught him and hugged him fiercely, sinking down to sit against the parkade, cradling the other boy against his chest.

As they sat there in the darkness, Sasori looked up at the moon. It was dazzlingly bright compared to the inky night, and in its light, he considered exactly what Deidara meant to do by making him fall for him more and more every day.

"Aw, don't wake up, you're adorable when you're like this." Deidara opened his eyes to the sound of Sasori's voice, a lot closer than it ought to be. He looked around, not moving (he was surprisingly comfortable). He could see bus seats. Windows. But they were mostly obstructed by Sasori's chest and shoulder. He sat up quickly, scooting away on the bus seat...and then he seriously regretted his movement; his head _hurt like fuck._

Sasori raised his eyebrows as Deidara moaned and put his head in his hands.

"Seriously? How much did you drink?" he asked, moving closer to Deidara and taking his face in his hands, turning it to face his own.

"Hmm," he said, looking at Deidara's pink cheeks and half-closed eyes, "yeah, sucks to be you." he joked, pulling Deidara's arm over his own shoulders and letting him lean against his chest. Deidara didn't complain. Had he not been dead tired and drunk, he probably would have, but he didn't have the energy or the desire to move away from Sasori.

"So, we've got a long drive ahead of us. It's only been ten minutes. We should talk." Sasori said, stroking Deidara's hair. Deidara made a kind of 'mmmmuuuhhhh' sound as a reply, which Sasori took to mean that he agreed.

"Alright. I ask a question, you answer, then you ask. Okay?" he asked, tugging lightly on Deidara's hair, earning him another vague answer.

"Okay. Who's a better kisser, me or Ino?" he asked, smirking down at the top of Deidara's head. Deidara's eyes had snapped open and, unbeknown to Sasori, he was grinning. "...who do you think?" he asked, and Sasori raised his eyebrows.

"Well I can't tell...I've made a point of not kissing Ino, so I can't exactly compare. So who's better?"

"You, un." Deidara said, closing his eyes and sighing. Sasori nodded in satisfaction, nudging Deidara after a while.

"Your turn."

"Uh...yeah. Worst kisser you know."

"Rock Lee." Deidara opened his eyes again and sat up, staring at Sasori in utter disbelief.

"You kissed _him?_ Why?" he asked, completely surprised. Sasori shook his head.

"It was a dare. Please, let's not talk about it." Deidara grinned at him, trying to imagine Sasori kissing Lee...he snickered and leaned against the window, more interested in the game now.

Sasori faced him, lacing their fingers together. Deidara didn't complain; he didn't have the energy or the sobriety to even notice that it ought to bother him. It just felt nice.

"Would you rather spend ten months with me, or ten weeks with Ino?" Sasori asked. Deidara rolled his eyes and sighed, leaning his head back against the window.

"Why are all your questions so far about her? What, are you jealous, un?" he asked, not even aware of what he was saying. Sasori's eyes imperceptibly narrowed, but the corners of his mouth turned up.

"Not jealous. Just making sure I don't have any competition." he said, his eyes fixed alluringly on Deidara's own. Deidara shook his head and sighed again.

"I guess ten months with you. I can't even spend ten _hours _with Ino. I'd die, un. But with you..." he didn't finish. He almost fell asleep, but Sasori poked his arm.

"Your turn for a question." he said, grinning. He didn't need Deidara to finish his answer. He knew that whatever he said, he'd deny it later anyways. So there was no need, although it did make Sasori happy to know that Deidara did in fact have feelings for him. Not just feelings of hate, either.

"Okay..." Deidara said, rubbing his head and sitting up a little straighter. As his hand rumpled his long, dark blonde hair, Sasori suddenly longed to run his own hands through it, tug it, kiss it...

"You're staring at me, un." Deidara said pointedly, and Sasori re-focused his gaze, grinning.

"Okay, what's your favourite chick flick?" he asked finally. Sasori snorted.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me, un." Deidara said, grinning at Sasori. The redheaded boy rolled his eyes and answered '_Dirty Dancing_'. Deidara's eyes widened.

"Are you serious? I love that too! It's my favou-" he broke off, seeing Sasori grinning at him. "I mean...jeez, you like that? Lame, un..." Deidara muttered, trying to hide his smile. Sasori, for once, didn't call him on it.

"My favourite part is probably when they were doing the chacha in the dance studio...and then they pretended to sing that song. How does it go?" Sasori asked, and Deidara thought.

"There's the guitar...da da da dum badada...and then..."

"Silvia?" Sasori said, and Deidara raised his eyebrows at him.

"Yes, Mickey?"

"How do you call your loverboy?" Sasori said, imitating the American accent of the singer. The whole thing was so ridiculous that Deidara wanted to laugh, but he held it in.

"Com'ere, loverboy!" Deidara said, gesturing at Sasori. Sasori smirked, and stayed where he was.

"And if he doesn't answer?" Deidara made a pouting face.

"Oh, loverboy!"

"And if he _still _doesn't answer?"

"I simply say.." Deidara began leaning closer, scooting over the bus seat. "Baby...oh, baby. My sweet baby...You're the one." he sang, now face-to-face with Sasori, who joined in; "Baby...oh, baby...my sweet baby...You're the one." They stopped. Deidara was kneeling on the seat, looking down at Sasori, whose arms were around him, his lips at his neck.

"Sasori..." Deidara murmured quietly. Sasori looked up at him, eyebrows raised.

"Yeah?" Deidara, still pretty drunk, was trying to think through his foggy marshmallow-like thoughts, to make sense of what was going on.

"...I know you like me, un..."

"Yeah..." Sasori said, still kissing Deidara's neck.

"...and I know you're probably happy right now..."

"God, Deidara, you wouldn't _believe _how happy I am right now." Sasori told the truth, but teasingly; he knew it would bug Deidara. Deidara frowned, trying to figure out what he was trying to say.

"Well...I'm drunk, un. And I won't remember _any _of this, I bet. Just so you know...okay?" Sasori smirked against Deidara's skin.

"Deidara, babe, did you really think that I don't _know _that? I know you won't remember shit. I'm just enjoying it while it lasts." he said, kissing Deidara's jaw softly.

When the bus stopped outside the school, it was with a little difficulty that Deidara and Sasori exited; Sasori was intent upon not removing his lips from Deidara's at all, and Deidara was having trouble staying up straight.

They made it somehow, and went inside through the back door, to which Sasori had stolen a key the previous year. They snuck inside the boy's hall, picking the lock with the same key, and flopped down onto Sasori's bed, not caring if Pain woke up or not.

But Pain, knowing that Sasori had gone to fetch Deidara, and probably foreseeing some kind of disturbance during the night, was wearing his heavy-duty headphones, plugged into his ipod. Sasori pulled Deidara close, and kissed him goodnight...several times over.

The next morning, Deidara (as expected) couldn't remember _anything, _and denied all claims that anything had happened between the two of them...he also yelled and shoved Sasori out of bed.

"Oh well...at least we'll always have _Dirty Dancing._" Sasori murmured with a smile to himself.

"_Dirty Dancing?_ I love that movie, un!" Deidara said enthusiastically.

Sasori looked at him.

When Deidara saw the mixed emotions of lust, love, confusion, amusement, and regret playing in Sasori's expression, it was all he could to eat his cereal in silence.

* * *

So, I promised to update this today, and I've still got an hour and a half until tomorrow, so I kept my promise! I'll update I Love soon, too, I promise, but I've got some provincial exams, and I'm working on the plot a bit, as well as sorting through votes, so it'll be maybe...three weeks...? Anyways, hope you liked this chapter! A little fanservice, I guess...and if you're wondering, Ino stayed at the reunion and *ahem* slept over at the house of one of the guys there...she got back to school fine. And for the umpteenth time (not really :D) I don't have anything against Ino. I just needed a slutty biatch, and I felt that she could be that character better than any of the other Naruto girls (Karin too, just...Ino's easier). Anyways, R&R as always! Thanks so much to all my reviewers so far! I really appreciate the wonderful feedback! it's what keeps this coming, slow and steady!


	9. Hot Mess

**You're a Hot Mess, I'm loving it, Hell Yes!**

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Okay, this chapter is dedicated to **Dark Winged Panther **Thanks so much for suggesting new questions for their game! I tried to include all of them, and if you read I Love (in the same series as this story) I answered the 'who is a better kisser' question in my recent update of that one. Hope you enjoy this chapter! I loved writing it...but then I'm a huge SasoDei fan. But, if you're not, why are you reading this! Thanks so much to everybody who has faved, reviewed, subscribed, everything! I promise to update this story more frequently now that my exams are done! I'm going to Kelowna this weekend, but I'll definitely update next week!

* * *

"Sure you don't remember anything?" Deidara turned to glare at Sasori. This had to be the one billionth time he'd asked since they'd woken up, not four hours ago.

"_No. _And judging by how excited you are to make me remember, I'm sure I'd rather not know what happened, un. Can't you just forget about it? I was drunk. It didn't mean anything, un." Sasori raised an eyebrow sceptically.

"It meant something to _me. _And if you'd just remember it, I'm sure it would mean something to you, too, Deidara." he said ominously, almost like a promise.

"Oh, please," Deidara scoffed as they walked together to lunch.

"It's already upsetting enough to know that I was _drunk..._with _you! _Who _knows _what you might have done to me...really, I'd rather be ignorant about what happened, un. Either way, forget it." he said, closing the conversation.

Or so he thought; Sasori was so persistent that eventually Deidara just ignored him.

In 3D art, which they took together, the teacher was sick, so a substitute was in.

"Okay," the nondescript guy began in a rather nasal, monotonous voice, "today, you've got a double block, as you know. Now, your teacher wanted you to study the architecture of famous boats. But, I don't feel like teaching right now. So, if you good boys and girls keep it a secret, you can watch a movie instead."

There was a cheer, and the teacher (moving as slowly as possible) put a movie into the machine and switched on the tv. Most of the class gathered around the screen, putting their feet up and taking out their cellphones, but some snuck out the back door. The sub didn't even notice.

Deidara took out his cellphone to check his messages. He had just switched it on when Sasori reached over and took it out of his hands.

"Gimme, un." Deidara said, aiming a kick at Sasori, which he avoided. Leaning back in his chair, Sasori grinned as he began pushing buttons on Deidara's phone, Deidara trying to grab it back.

"Just a second..." Sasori said, his thumb whizzing over the keys too quickly for Deidara to see what he was doing.

"Here," he said a few seconds later, and Deidara took it back suspiciously.

"What did you do, un?" he asked, checking his phone to see nothing was different.

"Not much. The movie's starting." Sasori said, pointing at the screen. And indeed, _Titanic _was 5 minutes in.

Forty minutes into the movie, Deidara was fast asleep, as he usually was during tragic movies. It was some kind of automatic shut-down reaction from since he was ten, when he'd watched Moulin Rouge with his older brothers and his mom.  
He had been the only one to cry, and he had been _bawling. _He was teased for weeks afterwards, so ever since he just fell asleep when he knew the ending would be sad. So he was fine, dreaming away...except that he was asleep on _Sasori's shoulder. _Not that Sasori was complaining, of course. He was quite content.

Three hours and twenty minutes later, Deidara opened his eyes. Odd, he seemed to be almost on top of somebody else. He turned and saw dark red hair. He forced himself off of Sasori and cleared his throat, opening his mouth to insist that he wasn't aware of what he was doing...and then he frowned. Sasori was rubbing his eyes.

"Are you..._crying_?" Deidara asked in disbelief.

"Shut up, I'm not!" Sasori retorted in an undertone.

"You are! You totally are, un!" Deidara insisted, leaning forward and seeing Sasori's heavily-lidded eyes were puffy from rubbing. Sasori looked down, crossing his arms like a child. "I am _not, _you're a liar. Plus you were asleep, so you cheated. _You're _the one who's supposed to be crying, stupid." Deidara half-laughed, shaking his head.

"You're not making any sense, un! What are you talking about?" he asked, poking Sasori. Sasori rubbed his eyes again, then turned around, all signs of his crying gone, his teasing smirk and dreamy expression back where it belonged.

"So, Dei-da-ra..._you _were snuggling me." he said, grinning suggestively

"I was not!" Deidara snapped, crossing his arms and straightening himself up in his chair.

"Not true! You were crying. The tears must have blurred your vision, un." Sasori grinned and shook his head.

"No, I could _feel _you. I could smell your hair. And I was not crying!" he protested finally, frowning. Deidara raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah you _were_. I _saw_ you."

"Yeah, well I _saw _you cuddling me!" Sasori retorted in an undertone. Deidara gasped, then scowled.

"I was _completely _unconscious at the time of the 'alleged' cuddling, so it totally doesn't count, un! But _you _were 100% awake when you were _crying_, so that's a completely different matter! So there, I win, you lose, end of story, un." he said, effectively ending the argument. Sasori opened his mouth to retort, then closed it and shot the back of Deidara's head a wicked smirk. He took out his cellphone, and pressed a few buttons before shutting it.

Deidara's phone vibrated in his pocket. And began playing a song. He whipped it out of his jeans and stared at it. He had _never _given somebody a specific ringtone, and he would never _ever ever ever _give _anybody _the ringtone that was playing right then..._loudly. _

'_Fuck me, I'm a celebrity. Can't take your hands off me, I know you wanna suck me, what you waiting for?' _

The people in front of Deidara began to laugh, but he flipped them off and opened his phone. He looked at the screen to see a text. From Sasori. Seething, Deidara read it. 'What you waiting for, baby?' Deidara felt like breaking something. No...better yet, blowing something up. That would be _great. _But, just for the moment, he settled for texting Sasori back a nice rude 'fuck off'.

There. All better!

That night, Deidara was never so thankful to have a nice, comfy bed to flop down onto. In gym, Guy had made them 'joyfully' run 'into the sunset' _20 fricken times! THERE AND BACK! _Gah... Deidara's thighs were _killing _him. He closed his eyes to fall asleep (he was skipping dinner, he was too tired), but a fuzzy memory played in his head instead of a dream.

_'Sasori' _

_'Yeah?'_

_ '...I know you like me, un'_

_ 'Yeah...'_

_ '...and I know you're probably happy right now...' _

_'God, Deidara, you wouldn't believe how happy I am right now.'_

_ 'Well...I'm drunk, un. And I won't remember any of this, I bet. Just so you know...okay?' _

_'Deidara, babe, did you really think that I don't know that? I know you won't remember shit. I'm just enjoying it while it lasts.' Sasori kissed his jaw softly._

"What the hell was that!" Deidara exclaimed, sitting bot upright, his heart pounding. His mind raced as he clutched his head in frustration and dismay.

_Seriously...? Was that...a dream...No. Is that...Is that what happened yesterday...? Sasori...said that...I _did _that! Oh my...God... _

Deidara shook his head and rolled over, shutting his eyes, determined to fall _asleep _this time.

_Sasori was moaning, pressed against the wall. Their chests were flush against each other, Deidara's leg was between Sasori's, his hair tangled in Sasori's fingers. Finally, Deidara pulled away, breathing heavily. He looked down, his vision fuzzy, to see Sasori staring up at him, his cheeks red, panting, a look of complete wonder and rapture on his delicate features._

"FUCK THIS! I can't deal with this, un..." Deidara leapt out of bed and jumped down off the bunkbed before leaving the room. He was storming through the hallway towards the exit of the boys' dormitory when he saw Sasori walking towards him, listening to his ipod, totally zoned out.

Great.

The very last person Deidara wanted to see when images of Sasori staring up at him rapturously, lustfully, his lips reddened and parted, were dancing through his mind. Deidara turned around, not sure where to go, but it was too late. "Hey, Deidara!" Sasori called out, and began walking faster. Deidara didn't turn to face him; he was trying to erase the memory of Sasori's lips on his neck from his mind. Sasori caught up quickly, and slipped an arm around Deidara's waist as he put an earphone into Deidara's ear with the other. "What?" Deidara asked, but Sasori put a finger to his lips. A terribly familiar guitar pattern was playing.

'_Sylvia?'  
'Yes Mickey?' _

"How do you call your loverboy?" Sasori murmured, turning Deidara so they were face-to-face, looking into his eyes determinedly.

"C'mere, loverboy..." Deidara mumbled automatically before realizing that he _remembered doing this before..._

"And if he doesn't answer?" Sasori asked with a smirk; he _knew _Deidara remembered, and that scared Deidara a little.

"...oh loverboy..." Deidara murmured, giving in as Sasori wrapped both arms around Deidara's waist, securing him in a loose embrace.

"And if he _still _doesn't answer?" Sasori whispered, his lips at Deidara's ear. Deidara shuddered, and bent his head down, pressing his face into Sasori's neck, inhaling his scent as he replied.

"I'd simply say...baby...oh baby...Oh, baby..."

"You're the one." Sasori finished, looking significantly into Deidara's eyes when he raised his head. Sasori kissed him softly, then more demandingly, as if he was hungry for Deidara's lips and nothing else.

"You remembered something, didn't you." he said, pulling away briefly. He didn't ask, so Deidara didn't answer. At least, not out loud. He nodded, not meeting Sasori's gaze. Sasori smirked, then smiled genuinely.

"That makes me happy." he admitted, pulling away, but keeping a soft grip on Deidara's hand as they walked together into their room.

"So...can I ask you something? To keep going with the game, un?" Deidara asked finally, well aware that he was playing right into Sasori's hands. But he didn't mind, not now.

"Of course." Sasori said, grinning. They sat on Sasori's bed, Sasori lying on his side, Deidara sitting at one end with his knees up to his chin, his arms wrapped around them.

"What's the best kiss you've ever had?" he asked. Not because he thought it would be him, but because he was genuinely curious. And he kinda felt drunk. It was an odd feeling, being sober, but feeling intoxicated just by being in Sasori's presence. It freaked Deidara out, certainly, but like an addiction, he kept wanting more. Sasori smiled, his eyes closed.

"You. In the parking lot. When you kissed me." Sasori replied, as easily as if it was the only thing he'd ever said in his life, the only thing he understood at all. Deidara snorted.

"No, really, un."

"I'm being serious," Sasori said, opening his eyes and fixing Deidara with a serious look.

"You might have been drunk, but I've never been dominated in a kiss before. It's not something I'm gonna forget, you know. It was...good." he said finally, looking a little embarrassed as he plainly remembered what had happened. Deidara was just as embarrassed, but he grinned, because Sasori looked cute.

"Okay, then. My turn." Sasori said, grinning at Deidara, who suddenly wondered if he should be worried.

"How many boyfriends or girlfriends have you had in your life?" Deidara blinked in surprise, then blushed, burying his face in his knees. "None." he said finally, his voice muffled.

"_What?_" Sasori nudged Deidara's head to make him look up. When he did, he stared at him.

"Are you _serious_? You've _never _had a boyfriend? Or a girlfriend? _Really_?" Deidara scowled.

"Why are you so surprised? It's not like nobody _asked, _I just..."

"Just what?" Sasori asked, genuinely curious. He had scooted closer, and was now sitting right in front of Deidara. Deidara felt flustered, but he answered anyways.

"Well...I don't know. I didn't like them very much...and I mean, I didn't _need _anybody, so I thought that it would be mean to go out with them if I didn't like them as much as they liked me, you know? I didn't want to use them, or anything, un..." Sasori stared at him, and then grinned.

"I get it. So you felt like you didn't _need _them? But if you love somebody, then you kinda need them, don't you think?" he asked, smiling and looking at Deidara meaningfully. Deidara looked away, the intensity of Sasori's gaze too much for him.

"Well...I guess so. But I've never loved anybody, so I wouldn't know." Sasori nodded and looked away.

"My turn," Deidara said, trying to lift the awkward silence that had settled down. "Would you ever run naked through Tsunade's office, un?" he asked, and Sasori laughed.

"Why, do you wanna see?" Sasori teased, back to his usual self. Deidara shook his head.

"No way, un. But would you?" Sasori thought for a moment, then nodded.

"Yeah. If she was there...maybe in sixth year. So then she couldn't do anything to me. But otherwise...if she wasn't there, I'd do it." Deidara grinned, trying _not _to imagine Tsunade's expression if she caught Sasori streaking through her files.

"My turn," Sasori said, leaning back against the wall. "What's your favourite horror movie?" Deidara rolled his eyes.

"I _hate _horror movies, un." he said, and Sasori grinned.

"Why? You get scared?" he guessed, and Deidara shoved him.

"_No. _...yes. But you can't tell anybody, un." he said, and Sasori nodded. "Of course not. But which is your favourite?" Deidara sighed.

"Well, I don't know if it's exactly _horror, _since it's Tim Burton, and his stuff is always more cool than scary, but I always liked Sleepy Hollow, un. It's scary...and gross...and freaky...and scary...but it's filmed very well. So it's nice, un." he said, and Sasori nodded. He had been trying not to laugh as Deidara's expression of distaste had increased each time he said 'scary'.

"My turn, un." Deidara said, and Sasori nodded. "When was your last hangover?" Sasori folded his arms behind his head and dramatically looked off into the middle distance.

"Let me see...I guess I got pretty wasted the week before school started...I was at a party at Pain's house, and his family's pretty into vodka..." he explained, and Deidara nodded before grinning.

"Did you do anything crazy?" he asked, and Sasori laughed. "Well...if you count streaking down his street as 'crazy', then I'd say yeah. Don't ask him about it, okay? He was pretty...uh...let's just say he doesn't like to remember what he did." Sasori said with a wink, and Deidara laughed.

"Okay, what animal would you be if you could be anything?" Sasori asked, and Deidara considered his answer for a few minutes.

"Um...well, I always liked koalas...but I'd definitely be a bird. An owl, maybe...just so I could fly, you know? I always wanted to fly, un." he replied, and Sasori nodded.

"What about you?" Deidara asked, and Sasori frowned.

"Maybe a sea turtle." Deidara snorted with laughter.

"What's so funny? Sea turtles are cool." Sasori said defensively.

"I believe you! Sea turtles are...are the bomb, un!" he said before collapsing into a fit of laughter.

"They are! The one from _Finding Nemo _was so cool! Besides that, they live for a really long time! So they're around a lot...it's cool!" he insisted, starting to laugh himself.

Deidara couldn't stop laughing, and Sasori finally pushed him off the bed with a grin. Deidara's foot got caught behind Sasori's shoulder as he fell, bringing Sasori down on top of him. Deidara caught his breath back and stopped laughing as he looked up to see Sasori not three inches away, pinning him to the ground.

Deidara cleared his throat awkwardly as more flashes of Sasori kissing him, Sasori's lips on his neck, Sasori's tongue in his mouth continued to appear vividly in Deidara's memory. He tried to scoot out from under Sasori, but Sasori's body blocked him when he moved.

"Don't move, Deidara. I like it like this." Sasori said, his voice barely a whisper, filled with a teasing undertone.

Deidara looked up, Sasori's dreamy eyes framed by long, dark lashes gripping his own gaze.

"What you waiting for?" Sasori asked in a invitingly sensual tone, leaning down as his knee made its way between Deidara's legs. Deidara gasped and Sasori seized the moment and kissed him, dominating the moment, tangling his hands in Deidara's hair, having his way with Deidara's mouth.

The door opened.

"Um...Hey! You missed dessert!" Pain said with an obviously forced casualness. Sasori broke away and looked pointedly at the intruder.

"Yeah, I'm going. Have fun..." Pain said, grabbing his cellphone and ipod, leaving to hang out with Itachi.

"We will..." Sasori murmured, looking back down at Deidara, who glared up at him.

"Are you gonna get off any time soon? You're heavy, and annoying, un." he said angrily, blushing, but Sasori just laughed.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah...You keep telling yourself that." Sasori replied, letting Deidara up and flopping down onto his bed.


	10. Cry to Me

**Cry to Me**

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Okay, so I'm back home! yay! I meant to update all three of my ongoing stories today, but...I kind of fell asleep on the floor...ahem. Anyways, so I will update them tomorrow, or if something happens, this weekend. Hope you like this update. Thanks so much (as always) to all of my magnificent reviewers! I love you all very much, thank you for your support! I was re-reading this story, just to see how it was going as a whole and...okay, I don't want to sound arrogant or anything...but _I _adore this! I'm sorry, okay, I'll stop. I don't own Naruto, or the songs mentioned in this chapter.

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Ino returned two weeks after Deidara and Sasori. The first time Deidara saw her after that drunken night so many days ago, she glared at him. The second time, she whispered to him in class that she was mad at him for ditching her, but she also wanted to thank him, because thanks to him leaving, she was able to sleep over at her new boyfriend's house (who was in fact her third cousin).  
She also said that she was surprised that he was gay. Sasori had overheard that last comment, and smirked at Deidara, who of course was appalled and denied this claim...but Ino never flirted with him again.

Which, honestly, was a huge plus.

"I heard somewhere that two more fifth-year boys are coming today," Itachi began at lunch time on a cloudy Monday morning, sounding about as interested in the subject as a kindergartener would be in the names of all the elements on the periodic table.

"Really? But it's so late in the year already!" Pain exclaimed as he chewed his sandwich.

"Yeah! I mean, Deidara was super late; he came in November, just after Halloween! But people are still accepted now?" Kisame asked curiously.

"I guess so," Deidara said as he stood up to get more juice. As he grabbed another orange juice, he accidentally bumped the arm of the person next to him.

"Oh, sorr-_woah!_" he said, dropping his juice box, staring up at the super-tall boy next to him, who looked down at him. A flicker of a frown crossed his face before he walked away, muttering something like 'weird fucker' as he did. Deidara stared after him, aware that he probably looked foolish, with his juice box on the ground and his jaw open.

The boy had to be six foot, but was probably several inches taller. And as he walked towards the only table with room (the one Deidara sat at), he was joined by another boy...who was just as tall, if not taller! As Deidara picked up his juice, he thought, not for the first time, that perhaps he ought to try and grow taller. He walked slowly to his table, watching the other two boys sit down next to Pain and Itachi.

They started talking, and Deidara assumed, judging by the way Sasori tilted his head in surprise, and Pain's eyes widened and he grinned, they were saying something kind of shocking. He returned and sat down quickly next to Pain.

"Deidara, these guys are the new ones in our year," Pain said, and Deidara inwardly gaped; they were _so tall! _"Hidan," Pain said, and the boy Deidara had bumped into looked up and looked rather critically at him before fixing him with a would-be-friendly look with his unusually-coloured eyes. Deidara smiled slightly, secretly nervous about making that one mad, before turning to the other, who Pain said was Kakuzu. Kakuzu just looked at Deidara briefly before turning back to Hidan and resuming their conversation.

Deidara punctured his juicebox and took a sip, surreptitiously observing Hidan and Kakuzu; they both had pretty unusual appearances, but then, so did almost everybody at the table. Kakuzu appeared to have been wearing some kind of mask, but he had taken it off to eat, and Deidara had almost spit out his juice at the sight of his face; it wasn't _unattractive..._just _unusual. _  
He had loads of scars, all stitched up in such a way that it gave him a rather Frankenstein-like appearance. He also had very long, layered, spiky hair that was kind of muddy-grey-brown. He was also _very _muscular, the obvious curves of biceps and pectorals easily visible under his uniform, which was undone at the top, then ripped so it had no sleeves. His arms, too, were covered in stitches.

Hidan's silvery-white hair was slicked back, and his school uniform was...barely on. He was wearing the collared shirt and tie, but the shirt was completely open except for one tenacious button, and the tie was hanging out of his pocket. His confidence was obvious, as was the impression that he probably worked out; his exposed chest was toned and muscular, increasing his generally attractive appearance.  
His face was kind of...cute, and the shape of his eyes was sympathetic, as though he was a sensitive and caring guy. But when Deidara finally zoned into his loud conversation with Kakuzu, he was suddenly hit with the stone-cold truth that his impression of Hidan's personality was _wrong. _

Completely wrong.

"Shut your fucking trap, you 'tard! What the hell do _you _know about it anyways? You look like total shit, if you even _looked _at hair gel, I bet it'd fucking crap its eyes out from disgust, sistafucka!"

"Hair gel can't _crap, _you retard." Kakuzu retorted, rolling his eyes. Hidan slammed his hand down on the table, almost spitting with irritation.

"Eat a dick, stupid fuck!" he snarled, and Kakuzu raised his eyebrows before biting into this sandwich.

"Colourful conversation." Sasori commented, glancing at Deidara, who nodded, smiling to himself; Hidan and Kakuzu clearly hated each other.

"So, just wondering, do you guys have hate sex, or make-up sex?" Sasori asked the new pair casually, and Deidara almost choked on his juice: what kind of a question was _that? _Pain also seemed to be surprised, and Kisame was warily watching Hidan for his reaction.

"Hate," Hidan and Kakuzu replied, just as casually as Sasori had asked. Deidara, Pain, and Kisame stared at Sasori, who nodded and went back to his Jello.

"How did you know they were together?" Deidara asked Sasori as they walked together to 3D class. Sasori raised his eyebrows at Deidara.

"Seriously, you couldn't tell? It was obvious they weren't really serious. They weren't _fighting, _they were _flirting_." he explained as if it was the most basic thing ever. Deidara marvelled at Sasori's absurd ability to realize a conversation that was bordering on violent was really just playful banter.

"But...but they _hate _each other, un!" Deidara said, and Sasori shook his head with a grin, grabbing Deidara's bag and pulling him against the wall to make him stop.

"No, they don't." he said, looking at Deidara, who shifted slightly under his gaze; after remembering most of what had happened that night a few weeks ago, Deidara had begun to feel _quite _uncomfortable whenever he was placed in a similar situation with Sasori.

"It's like us. _You _don't hate me. And we argue a lot. But not for real." he explained. Deidara stared at him, appalled.

"Are you high? When did you get the idea that I don't hate you? When did you figure this out? What...When..." Deidara ran out of questions, but was still shocked. Sasori grinned and stuck his thumbs into his pockets, giving Deidara a look.

"I'm not high. You don't hate me, and I got that idea weeks ago. I don't think you ever actually disliked me, to tell the truth." he said as the bell rang.

"We're going to be late, but don't think this conversation is over! Because you are _so _wrong, un!" Deidara said as they rushed into their classroom. He heard Sasori chuckle behind him as they sat down, but he ignored it, his mind thinking away furiously. The teacher took a long time explaining their new project, leaving Deidara alone with his thoughts for a while.

_That weirdo...what the hell does he mean, I 'never actually disliked him'! Of course I did! He _assaulted _me the first time we met! He called me _blondie!Deidara remembered in outrage, giving Sasori a dark look before looking away again. _  
Not only that...but...but, he's not my type! Not the kind of person I would normally be friends with. In fact...I'm not even sure if we're friends. He's creepy. And a pervert. And weird. And he keeps trying to kiss me and stuff. So we're not friends. Nor are we anything else...because that one time, I was drunk, and he was nasty enough to take advantage of me. The fact that it felt good isn't relevant in the least. So I don't like him, and I hate him,_ Deidara decided as the teacher went on and on about different tools for making texture in clay.  
But somehow this idea that he hated Sasori felt wrong. It felt odd, like he was...well, not _lying, _but _exaggerating _the truth. Maybe he didn't _hate _him. But he certainly didn't _like _him.

Once the teacher had finished explaining, there were only fifteen minutes of class time left, so they worked on their preliminary sketches. Deidara scribbled out a bird, like he normally did for clay projects, but then scratched it out and drew a foot instead. Just for the lols. Sasori sketched a plate of waffles. Deidara, spotting his sketch, couldn't hide his snort of laughter.

"What? You don't like waffles?" Sasori asked, amused.

"Yeah I like waffles, un." Deidara said, as the _waffles _song got stuck in his head. Sasori smirked.

"So what's the problem?" he asked, and Deidara shook his head. "Nothing. I just had a dream about waffles this one time, that's all."

"A sexual dream?" "What the hell, you pervert, un! Why the hell would you even _say _that!"

"See, that's like Hidan. I proved my point." Deidara stared at him before uttering a flat what. Sasori grinned.

"What you just did; _What the hell, you pervert. Why the hell would you even say that?_ It's like what Hidan was saying to Kakuzu at lunch today. And they don't hate each other." Deidara was having a _very _hard time wrapping his mind around Sasori's logic.  
It was like trying to understand a child's idea of how women give birth.  
(_Okay, not relevant, but I used to think the baby came out of the bellybutton. :P_)

"Okay...but what do you think I'd've said if I _did _hate you?" Deidara asked, and Sasori stared at him as if _he _was the one spouting gibberish.

"Well, obviously, if you _hated _me, you wouldn't even be _talking _to me!" he exclaimed, and Deidara felt like face-palming.

"But if _you _start a conversation, I can't exactly just _not say anything!_" he pointed out in exasperation. Sasori rolled his eyes.

"Well, _duh, _but I wouldn't _start a conversation _if I knew you hated me!" Deidara stared at him.

"You...You have some seriously messed-up reasoning. If you ever start a debate with somebody, they'd probably give in just because you're too ridiculous to argue with, un." Deidara said finally with a sigh, turning away. Sasori grinned and crossed out his waffle sketch.

"Sasori, you've got detention today, remember?" Sasori and Deidara looked around at the teacher as they left the classroom.

"I do?" Sasori asked, feigning ignorance, and the teacher rolled her eyes.

"_Yes _you do. Remember a few weeks ago, when Deidara was away...I gave you detention, but you said you were busy until this week?" she reminded him, and Sasori suddenly seemed to remember. His face turned slightly pink, and he nodded.

"Yeah, okay. Today after classes? What do I have to do?" he asked.

"Oh, I'm sure I'll think of something horrible. I sure hope this teaches you a lesson about bitching around during class." she said, rolling her eyes and walking into her office.

"What's she talking about?" Deidara asked as they walked together back to the dorm rooms. Sasori ran a hand through his hair and muttered something unintelligible. Deidara decided to drop it, but it kind of interested him that Sasori had gotten detention on the day that he had been away.

It turned out that Hidan and Kakuzu were rooming in the same dorm rooms as Itachi and Kisame, and Deidara was secretly relieved; he wasn't sure he wanted to be woken up in the middle of the night by 'hate sex'. It probably wasn't very sleep-inducing.  
A sudden mental image of himself hiding under his covers as Hidan screamed out 'Fuck you Kakuzu! Yes! Yes! I hate you...aaargh!' in the middle of night in a Viking voice made him snort with laughter randomly, making Sasori look sideways at him, but he didn't ask, and Deidara was glad of it; having to admit what his imagination had just thought up would be quite embarrassing, to say the least.

After dinner, Sasori left and made his way to the 3D art room, leaving Deidara and Pain to return to their dormitory alone. Hidan and Kakuzu each already had detention, and Itachi and Kisame had left for the library to 'look something up'. Pain flopped down on his bed, and Deidara flopped down on Sasori's. Noticing Pain's gaze, Deidara frowned.

"Don't get the wrong idea, it's just easier than having to climb up there, un." he said, and Pain grinned.

"Sure..." he teased, and Deidara flung Sasori's pillow at him. He rolled over and inhaled before sighing. Sasori's bed smelled nice. Like him. _No! No he doesn't smell nice! Scratch that thought, erase it from memory...NEVER HAPPENED! Sasori STINKS! EWWWW...he smells nice.  
_Deidara scowled and rolled over, to find Pain reading Hetalia.

"You say you're straight, but that's a gay series you've got there, un." Deidara said with a grin. Pain rolled over and gave him a look.

"There _are _het pairings in here, too, you know! And I honestly don't know what you're talking about...This is practically a history book, not a relationship manga! Sheesh..." he said, but smiled. Deidara rolled his eyes and grinned; Pain knew he knew that he knew it was actually...mostly a relationship manga.

"Who are your favourite characters?" Deidara asked after a pause, and Pain looked over at him.

"Do you know Hetalia?" he asked in surprise. Deidara shrugged.

"Kind of. I read it once when you were out, un."

"Gee, thanks." Pain said sarcastically before shaking his head and grinning. "Well, I like Denmark and Norway...together. Denmark is super. Almost my favourite character. I also like England and America...together, but then I also like FranceXEngland..."

"Do you like anycharacters that _aren't _supposedly in a relationship, you pathetic single?" Deidara asked in amusement, and Pain flung Sasori's pillow back at him.

"You're single too, stupid." he said, shooting Deidara a look, which Deidara returned.

"By _choice. You're _just a lonely bastard, un." he said teasingly, and Pain grinned.

"Yeah, well...no I guess I don't like any single characters. Not that any of the pairings I like are canon...aside from EnglandXAmerica, which is _practically _Word of God. I also rather like PolandXLithuania, HungaryXPrussia...but my favourite is definitely SpainXRomano."

"What kind of country is 'Romano'?" "South Italy. Wanna know why I like them?" Pain asked, rolling over, and Deidara said sure. Pain grinned.

"They remind me of you and Sasori." Deidara sat up and turned to face Pain, scowling.

"_Why?_" he asked, and Pain grinned.

"Oh, you know...Romano's all 'I totally don't like you, you bastard', but really he does, and Spain's all oblivious and keeps turning Romano on, but-"

"_Sasori does not turn me on, un!" _Deidara exclaimed angrily, and Pain laughed.

"Yeah, yeah...you guys are fun to watch, you know." Deidara stared at Pain, who had in fact become his best friend over the last month, and then laughed.

"What are you, some kind of fangirl?" he asked, and Pain shook his head.

"No...yeah...so what?" he asked, and Deidara flopped back down onto Sasori's bed, smirking. They stayed quiet for a while before Pain asked, "So...do you like him?"

"Who?"

"Sasori."

"No."

"Yeah you do."

"No, I don't, un."

"Yeah, you do."

"No, actually, I don't. He's rude, he's obnoxious, he's a total pervert and a sexually-driven nymphomaniac, and he has no sense of personal space..."

"Uh huh...but you like him anyways."

"If you're so convinced, why are you asking me?"

"'Cause it's fun."

"Oh, right." Deidara rolled his eyes, but then he realized that Sasori had been gone for an hour. "What do you think he's doing?" he asked, and Pain yawned.

"Something terribly painful, I bet..."

"_What?_" Deidara asked, sitting up and staring at Pain, who looked at him in surprise. "Why would you say that?" Deidara asked, and Pain blinked.

"Well, I know that teacher. She likes giving people hard shit for detention, that's all. I actually got a pretty bad scar from a detention from her a few years back..."

"You mean he's being _tortured?_" Deidara asked, his voice getting higher. Pain looked at him for a moment before smiling.

"Are you _worried_?" he asked, and Deidara immediately lay down again and faced the other way.

"_No, _un."

"I think you are."

"I am _not! _Why would I worry about a guy like _that? _I don't even _like _him! I can't _stand _him! Ever since I met him, I've been going _crazy-_"

"With love? Passion?"

"With...crazyness! He's _horrible. _And he's distracting! And he's so _immature..._He's like a little perverted kid with no conscious or sense of propriety...and he _touches _people in places that he really shouldn't...and he's so _annoying, _and it's just frustrating even just trying to hold up a reasonable conversation with him because he's _so...so..._ I'm gonna go check on him, un." Deidara said, sitting up, standing up, and walking out the door.

Pain watched the door close behind him before picking up a notebook from under his pillow, and a pen. _Sasori...up two points. _He put them back and stretched: it was pretty entertaining to have a sitcom in his very own dorm room.

_**please listen to Chris Isaak, Wicked Game or Solomon Burke, and/or Cry to me during the next part, if you can**_

Deidara pushed open the door to the empty classroom, and walked in. The teacher was nowhere to be seen, but he could hear somebody moving around in the back storage room. He walked over, and leaned against the wall, one side of the door.

Now that he was here, he was unsure why he had come. He was beginning to doubt that he should be there at all when he heard Sasori mutter something darkly and a bang. He walked in the door to find Sasori facing away from him, shirtless, his pale skin smeared with wet clay. He appeared to have just picked up a huge cube of clay, which he'd dropped.

He turned and effortfully shoved it onto the nearby shelf. He turned around to get another one, and he saw Deidara standing in the doorway. He looked at him in surprise, and Deidara fidgeted uncomfortably under his gaze, scuffing his foot on the ground, and looking around, anywhere but at Sasori.  
Sasori stepped forward, and Deidara's eyes unconsciously fell on his body instead of his face, a habit Deidara had had since childhood; eyes might be the windows to the soul, but the body was a conversation, a dream, a message of emotion and unconscious needs or urges.

As Sasori's clay-smeared torso slowly came towards him, Deidara's eyes ran over the curves of his shoulders, down the faint pattern of hair leading down over his flat stomach, and he felt an odd loosening feeling in his lower stomach when he saw how low Sasori's pants were riding on his hips.  
Finally he was just two feet away, and Deidara slowly raised his eyes to Sasori's. For the first time, Sasori's face was void of any expression. He was just watching Deidara, just a hint of longing in his eyes, like an ache for something he couldn't have.

"Why are you here?" Sasori asked finally, and Deidara realized with a start that they'd been silent for five minutes. He tried to speak, but his voice wouldn't work. He cleared his throat, feeling a blush finally spread over his cheeks.

"I..." He couldn't think of a reason. "I don't know." he finally said, feeling that the atmosphere in the skinny storage closet was heavy with some kind of pressure. Sasori looked at him, and seemed to nod imperceptibly. Deidara cleared his throat again, feeling awkward as he realized he was sweating slightly. The kiln in the corner had just been used, and was open, still warm, giving off extra heat. He leaned against the doorframe, and looked around again.

"So, you're...moving clay slabs?" he asked. Sasori didn't answer, and Deidara didn't blame him; it had been a futile attempt to lighten the mood. The old radio in the classroom outside began to play Wicked Game quietly. Sasori stepped forwards again, so that he and Deidara were closer, and he hooked his thumbs into the loops of Deidara's jeans.

"Deidara..." He jumped slightly when Sasori spoke.

"Yeah?" he said, aware that he was whispering, but he didn't know why. He watched Sasori's lips as he spoke.

"I want..." he began, and raised his eyes to look at Deidara. Deidara stared back, seeing the honest desire and longing in Sasori's eyes before he leaned forwards and brushed his lips across Deidara's. Deidara closed his eyes. He wasn't even thinking any more.  
He slid his hands over Sasori's waist, feeling the wet clay that was smeared over his stomach before looping his thumbs through the belt loops at the back of Sasori's jeans. Sasori kissed him again, just as softly, before running his mouth down Deidara's neck, settling every so often, now kissing his throat, now his collarbone, now his shoulder.

Deidara traced his fingers gently up Sasori's back, running them over his shoulders. Sasori traced his fingers down Deidara's front, smoothly undoing the buttons of his uniform, watching Deidara as he did. Deidara pulled Sasori's body closer, sighing softly into Sasori's shoulder as his shirt was discarded onto the floor among the clay slabs.  
Sasori slowly ran his hands through Deidara's hair before kissing his lips softly. It was brief, though, and Sasori kissed down Deidara's chest, slowly kneeling on the ground. He raised his eyes to Deidara's, kissing him just under his bellybutton.

Deidara slowly lowered himself down as well, aware that by sliding down the clay slabs he was getting covered in wet clay, but he didn't care. His mind was on complete standby, completely hazy except for words like 'slow', 'quiet', and 'relaxed' swimming through every so often.  
Ironic, since his heartbeat was _none _of those things. Sasori stood on his knees, leaning over, and then he kissed Deidara full on the mouth, in earnest. Deidara kissed him back faintly until Sasori's teeth grazed his lips, and then he began kissing back more passionately.

Sasori's fingers traced down Deidara's bare chest. He reached to one side, and grabbed a fistful of clay. Deidara looked into Sasori's aroused eyes, and Sasori cracked a small smile. Deidara rather thought he looked like a child who was gonna _get _that cookie he wasn't supposed to eat...and nobody was gonna know. Sasori wiped his hands together until they were both sufficiently covered with wet clay before sliding one over Deidara's chest.

"You're getting me dirty, un." Deidara said, his voice so breathless he could barely hear himself. Sasori heard though, and he leaned forwards and laughed into Deidara's shoulder.

"I didn't know you were a dirty talker." he whispered against the tanned skin beneath his lips as he slip his hands over Deidara's chest and stomach again. He leaned forward, sliding his knee between Deidara's legs. Deidara blushed and traced a happy face on Sasori's chest to distract his attention from Sasori's hard-on...and his own.

"Are you happy?" Sasori asked quietly, running his dirty hands through Deidara's hair again. Deidara would normally have spazzed that he was getting his hair dirty, but he didn't care just then. He looked up at Sasori, who was again looking at him curiously, but lustfully as well. _Cry to me _began playing out of the radio, and  
Deidara wondered randomly if it was an oldies station.  
As he gazed up at Sasori, who was looking down as he rubbed wet clay all over Deidara's chest before writing in it, he felt that the old song had never made so much sense to him before; _Don't you feel like crying? Well here I am honey, Cry to me. _He wasn't sad...not really. But he felt like crying. And he hadn't cried for a _long _time.

"What did you write, un?" he asked Sasori softly.  
The redhead raised his head slowly and smiled. He raised his clay-covered finger again and re-traced the words. Deidara paid attention to how he moved his finger, then looked up at Sasori again.

"_Live forever?_" he asked, touched even though he didn't understand. Sasori placed a hand over Deidara's tattoo, over his heart.

"Right here." he said, as though that was a full explanation, then he kissed Deidara again, leaning forwards all the way this time, and sliding them both down the wet clay to lie on the refreshingly cool floor.

"You're getting my hair dirty, un." Deidara mumbled, and Sasori laughed lightly.

Deidara's thoughts, wild as they were, produced just one intelligent one before giving up; that same day, not even an hour ago, he had vehemently said '_Sasori does not turn me on!' _and yet now... Like an old record, his own voice echoed in his ears, criticizing Sasori as best as he could; _He's distracting_! _And he's so immature_..._no conscious or sense of propriety...touches people in places that he really shouldn't_.._frustrating even just trying to hold up a reasonable conversation with him because he's so...so... _He smiled slightly, absent-mindedly stroking Sasori's hair as he realized vaguely that the real reason he had so much trouble arguing with Sasori was of course, mostly because of Sasori's messed-up, childish logic, but also because he turned Deidara on _so much _that it was distracting. He sighed, and his breath blew Sasori's messy hair slightly. "What?" Sasori asked, almost sleepily, his cheek pressed against Deidara's chest. "Nothing. Just you. You're distracting, un." Deidara said quietly, and Sasori laughed before kissing Deidara's neck again.

* * *

I'm gonna leave that open-ended...you decide if they slept together or not! I think that if I do actually write a sex scene for this, I'm gonna have to change the rating (right now it's teen...I'm not even sure if it should be that...) and stuff. I'm worried, because I've never written a sex scene before, but I'm gonna have to write one for this one and I Love...but if they're bad, I'll feel ashamed, like I kinda ruined all the build-up and sexual tension...Anyways, I'm blathering on. Thanks for reading, hope you loved it, and even if you didn't, please review!


	11. Morning After

**Morning After**

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Thanks so very very VERY much to **OneSecondEternity **for all their support and wonderful AWESOMENESS! It's because of your amazing message that I made two chapters for this in the same day :D Hope you like it!

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Deidara was half-awake, but he didn't open his eyes; he had been having a rather interesting dream, and he was trying to remember it. He had been captured along with his crew by an enemy pirate, and he was currently tied to a cannon, about to be hauled overboard.  
But there was a voice...a voice that sounded oddly like Elton John..._Deidara...Deidara...Wake up, retard! _

Deidara opened his eyes. The 'cannon' he'd been tied to turned out to be a bit of wood between his shoulderblades. He rolled off of it, and sat up, his head spinning a little. He looked down at the piece of wood, blinking in the blinding light.  
He wondered how a bit of wood had gotten into his bed. Shaking his head at the mysteries of the world, he turned around, and saw that he was not in fact anywhere _near _his bedroom. His sleepy brain strained itself as he looked around the tiny room, trying to remember just _where _he'd fallen asleep the night before.

There was clay on the shelves, in large slabs. There were smears of clay on the floor. There was a small lightbulb above him, which was giving off the brutally blunt light. And there was a body next to him. Deidara, instantly (albeit with a sense of regret and irritation) recognized Sasori's hair, and rolled him over roughly.  
Sasori groaned, still asleep, and Deidara frowned down at his sleeping face. There was a smear of clay on his cheek. At the sight, Deidara remembered suddenly _making that smear..._

With a horrible sense of dread, he glanced down...and breathed a sigh of relief to see that he was still wearing his pants. He had been so..._out of it _the night before that he could have done _anything. _Sasori was also still wearing his pants, but they were undone and down to his knees.  
Deidara shook his head and tried not to think about it. His hair was _disgusting, _full of clay and dirt and who-knows-what, and he cringed as a muddy-brown strand fell into his vision. He would have to do something about that, and _soon. _

The door to the storage room swung open, and Deidara jumped to his feet, panicking and trying to think of anyexcuse that could possibly explain why he was in a storage room, covered in clay, with another mostly-undressed, sleeping male.  
But it was Pain.  
He was holding two towels, and three cups of coffee. He raised his eyebrows at Deidara, who fell upon the coffee like a starving animal.

"Do you know anything?" he asked Pain after gulping down half the mug in one go. Pain sighed and prodded Sasori in the stomach with his booted foot until the redhead gained some sign of life.

"You disappeared off last night looking for Sasori, remember? He was having his detention here. Anyways, this morning I thought I ought to look for you guys. You're lucky though," he said as Sasori rubbed his head and rolled over with another groan,

"It's a Saturday. No classes. If it was a weekday, though...you two would've been found at seven in the morning, and probably given detention for the rest of the term." Pain said, sipping his own coffee with an amused expression as Deidara began to towel himself off.  
He had a fixed expression of disinterest on his face, but his heart was pounding, his mind full of memories from the night before; Sasori's eyes, the fuzzy radio...the smell of clay, the taste of cherry lollipop in Sasori's mouth, the feel of his hair and skin...and oldies music. He blushed and cleared his throat as Sasori sat up, guided by the smell of coffee.

"Well, I'm gonna go shower. Thanks for the coffee, un." he said to Pain with a rather forced tone of nonchalance. He left, flouncing away out of the art room and down the hall. Sasori sipped his coffee and looked at Pain, who had his eyebrows raised, still looking at the door through which Deidara had just left.

"So...how'd it go this time?' Pain asked finally, and Sasori shrugged, but couldn't hide the grin from his face.

"Well, he wasn't drunk this time," he said, and Pain high-fived him.

"But...why do you think he left?" he asked after a pause, and Sasori drank more coffee before answering, sitting up properly.

"Most likely he's freaking out because he _wasn't _drunk and he still came onto me." Sasori said with a wider grin as Pain began to help him clean up the room.

Deidara was sitting in his bed, wearing his Ghostbusters tanktop and jeans, freaking out. He hadn't been drunk, and he'd come onto Sasori. He could _clearly remember _being perfectly _aware _of what he'd been doing when he'd let Sasori kiss him, even kissed him _back, _even...  
He shook his head grimly, reached over the side of his bunkbed and stole one of Sasori's lollipops. They helped him think, but he knew that secretly...he loved the cherry taste.

Just thinking about what they'd done the night before was enough to make Deidara go red, and not even reading his book would take his mind of things.  
Finally he reached over the side of the bed again and stole Sasori's ipod; his own had never been the same since he'd accidentally dropped it in a puddle of lighter fluid. He put the earphones in his ears, and pressed shuffle, closing his eyes.

_When your baby leaves you all alone/ And nobody calls you on the phone/ Don't you feel like crying? _

Deidara glared at the screen as yet more memories of exactly _what _he'd done while the song had played in the art room filled his mind. He pressed skip, but his finger slipped. He tried again, and missed. He snapped his eyes open looked down at the screen, but his eyes were caught by a flash of red.

He looked up.  
Sasori was looking up at him from below, his eyebrows raised. Deidara sat up. Sasori smirked slightly as he saw one of his lollipops sticking out of Deidara's mouth and his ipod in Deidara's hands.

"Dirty thief," he said teasingly before reaching up and taking the lollipop out of Deidara's mouth. He put it in his own and winked. "That's gross, un." Deidara commented after a moment, but Sasori just smirked. "So...do you wanna go out with me?" Sasori asked after a pause, leaning against the bunkbed. Deidara looked down at him. His mind was a desert; he couldn't think of anything to say.

"Speechless. That's good. Has my sexiness finally shocked you into silence?" Sasori asked, and Deidara scoffed, regaining his voice.

"Of course not. If anything could shock me into a silence, it would be your _fat head, _un." Deidara retorted as he climbed down the side of the bed.  
He pressed pause, then dropped Sasori's ipod onto his bed and faced him, his arms crossed. Sasori leaned against the bed, sucking his lollipop and watching Deidara as he spoke.

"I do _not _want to go out with you, and I never will, un. You'd better get used to that sometime soon." Deidara said angrily, the words spilling out of his mouth even as his mind filled with the smell of Sasori's breath, the taste of his mouth, the feeling of his lips on his chest...

"It's pathetic that you had to _seduce _me just to get your kicks. Are you that much of a pervert that you're willing to aggressively _force _people to give you five minutes of their time? Honestly, you disgust me, un." he said, though his hands shook.  
Sasori was expressionless and didn't say anything when Deidara grabbed his back which he still hadn't unpacked, and stormed out.

"_Another _week?" Tsunade asked suspiciously, and Deidara nodded.

"Yeah. My parents want me to visit. There's a fight and stuff, and-" "Please, no details. I don't need to know, and I don't _want _to know about your personal stuff. But you've already missed a lot of school, Deidara, so you'll have to catch up during winter break." Tsunade said and waved him away.

Deidara took the bus back home, sitting in silence as he looked out the window. He tried to relax, but he couldn't stop thinking about his most recent bus ride...when he'd been drunk, with Sasori. And then he'd think about last night...or the first time he'd met Sasori...  
He closed his eyes and tried to sleep, but he couldn't. Finally he gave in and put in his ipod earphones.  
Not that it would work, but he imagined it did, and sent himself to sleep with the memory of the old fuzzy radio, and the oldies it had played the night before.

"He's gone?" Pain nodded, just as confused as Sasori was.

"Yeah, Tsunade mentioned that he had gone home for a week or something. Did you guys have a fight? He seems to go places after you guys argue, so..."

"I asked him out." Sasori said flatly, and Pain stared at him. They were sitting on Pain's bed, facing each other. Even if there had been any classes, they'd've skipped them.  
This issue was, in Sasori's opinion, more important, and in Pain's, more interesting.

"You asked him out? What did he say?" Pain asked, and Sasori ran a hand through his hair and leaned back against the wall.

"He...well, he didn't say anything at first. Then he got mad and started accusing me of 'seducing' him." Pain laughed.

"He _what? _Seriously?" he said, and Sasori nodded.  
It was funny, but to Sasori it meant that Deidara would go to _any _means to avoid facing his feelings. Pain stopped laughing and stretched.

"Well? Aren't you gonna go after him?" he asked, knowing exactly what Sasori was thinking. Sasori shook his head and sighed.

"I might," he said slowly, "But...I dunno. What do you think? Do you think..." he didn't even know how to phrase what he wanted to ask. Pain understood, though, and looked directly at Sasori.

"I think he likes you. But I also think that...I think he's afraid or something. For some reason, he _doesn't want _to like you."

"...That doesn't make any sense, Pain." "Whatever, you asked. Your ipod's still on, y'know. Oh, happy early birthday. If you go and see Deidara, I'll just leave your present here for when you get back. I'm gonna go and see Itachi." Pain said, and strolled out of the room.

Sasori stood up and picked up his ipod. He looked at the screen, and his eyes widened. It was on the Dirty Dancing soundtrack playlist. It was paused on _Cry to me.  
_Sasori stared down at the screen for a few minutes before closing his hand around it grimly, and walking out of the room, headed for Tsunade's office.

"Hey, Dei! What're you doing here?" Deidara walked past his brother up the stairs.

"Just hanging here for a week or so, un." he said, walking into his room. He looked around approvingly, seeing that nothing had been touched since he'd left, and dumped his bag down before flopping onto his bed. Jedediah followed and collapsed onto a wheeled desk chair, spinning around on it.

"Okay. Mom and dad are fighting, by the way. So you might wanna stay up here for most of the time." he said casually, and Deidara rolled his eyes; his parents were _always _fighting.

"So have you got laid yet?" Deidara glared at his brother, and pointed at the door.

"_Out._"

"But-"

"_Out, _Jed." His older brother smirked and strolled out before slamming the door behind him.

Deidara rolled over and looked up at his ceiling, where flecks of residue from some of his art projects were scattered, among all the yellow 'Caution -Danger' tape he'd tacked up. He closed his eyes as the angry voices of his parents echoed up from below his floor.

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Uploading the next chapter right after this... Hope you liked it!


	12. House Keys

**House Keys**

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Okay, honestly, the title has absolutely nothing to do with the chapter, but... it takes place in a house! Hope you like this chapter, and please review!

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Sasori knocked on the door. The house was pretty big, but judging by the amazingly expensive-looking vintage cars in the driveway, he was sure that most of Deidara's parents' money went into other things.

The door opened after a few minutes, and a boy who looked like he could be Deidara's brother answered. He was taller than Deidara, with shorter, darker hair that was almost brown, but the same slanted eyes and sarcastic smile.

"Can I help you?" he asked, and Sasori noted that his voice was deeper and much less smooth-sounding than Deidara's.

"Yeah, is Deidara here? I'm a friend." he said, and the other boy, who had to be eighteen or so scuffed his foot on the floor, looking Sasori up and down.

"Yeah he's here. I'll get him-"

"Actually, he said I could visit today, so can you just take me to him?" Sasori asked, aware that if Deidara _knew _he was here, he'd probably get kicked out. The older boy raised his eyebrows, but let Sasori in.  
They walked up a wide set of stairs, down a hall, and turned a corner, accompanied by the sound of yelling voices from the kitchen. Sasori noticed lots of pictures of a young blonde girl with Deidara's eyes and tanned skin, but not many of Jed or Deidara.

"I'm Jed, by the way. Dunno if Dei's talked about me." the older boy said, and Sasori didn't say anything.

"His is the room with the dynamite on the door," Jed said before walking back down the hall and slamming his door. Sasori walked forwards, still completely unsure of what he was going to say, and opened the door.

"Jed, fuck off, un." Deidara's voice came from his bed, where he was scribbling on a notebook by the window. Sasori grinned; it was hardly the moment to notice this, but the way Deidara was kneeling put his ass up into the air. He walked forward silently.

"I know you're there. Fuck the hell off, okay? I'm busy." Deidara said in irritation.  
Sasori smirked and raised his hand before smacking Deidara's ass and dodging the kick that came at his groin immediately afterwards.  
Deidara rolled over, looking perfectly livid, and then his eyes widened in shock and he stared at Sasori, who grinned.

"W...What the hell are you doing here?" Deidara asked after a long silence. Sasori grinned.

"What? No 'welcome'? No 'happy birthday?' I'm hurt, Deidara!" he said. Deidara blinked.

"It's your birthday?"

"You wound me, Deidara!" Sasori said, slapping a hand to his heart as he stepped forwards again. Deidara kicked the notebook he'd been drawing in down the side of the bed before answering.

"...I'm sorry I didn't know, un. You should've told me!" he said, momentarily forgetting to be angry with Sasori for suddenly turning up unannounced. Sasori grinned.

"Why? Would you have given me a present?" he asked, sitting down on the bed facing Deidara, who scoffed and crossed his arms.

"Of course not! It would just be nice to know ahead of time that people will randomly turn up at my house on their birthday, so I can be mentally prepared for it, un. That's all." he said, and Sasori laughed.

"Cute." he commented, and Deidara glared at him.

"But...why are you here, un? You're _supposed _to be at school." he pointed out, and Sasori laughed before calling him a hypocrite.

"I'm serious. Why did you come? And...for that matter, how the hell did you find out my address?" he asked accusingly. Sasori smirked.

"Pain. Don't ask me how _he _knows -he knows _everything_."

"What is he, Edward Cullen?" Deidara asked disparagingly, and Sasori snorted with laughter.

"I'm serious, though. Why did you come here?" Deidara asked, looking straight into Sasori's eyes. He looked out the window at the grey sky.

"It's my birthday...and I honestly didn't want to spend it with anybody but you," Sasori said, and Deidara stared at him. He really felt that he should laugh, or call Sasori cheesy or something. But he didn't say anything, he just tried to slow his heart which had suddenly decided to speed up.

"Not only that," Sasori continued, shooting Deidara a look, the corners of his mouth turning up slightly, "But also...I wanna know why you're pretending that you didn't like what happened in the storage room. You said I 'seduced' you, that I 'forced' you. But you know as well as I do that _you _were the one who came to find me. You didn't tell me to stop, either."

Deidara brought his knees up to his chest, and his hands were in fists as he glared at Sasori, but didn't speak. Once again, he wasn't sure what he could say. Sasori was right, he was completely right... and Deidara had no argument, his own lies flapping like birds through his mind; _It's pathetic...you're willing to aggressively force people...You disgust me...  
_

The door swung open again, and Jed walked in before leaning against the doorframe.

"Is he your boyfriend?" he asked, jerking a thumb at Sasori, who felt a sort of sick pride, despite the situation. Deidara blushed and stood up, walking over to the door and glaring up at his brother.

"_No_. He's a friend."

"Can't say I'm too surprised. After all, you're little mister turn-off, aren't you?" Deidara shoved him out of the room and followed him.

Sasori immediately shoved his hand down the side of Deidara's bed and pulled out the sketchbook that Deidara had kicked down there when he'd come in. He stared down at the crumpled top page.  
There was an eye, drawn carefully and shaded in with a dark pencil Sasori immediately recognized the heavy lid and dark bottom lashline as his own, and frowned slightly.  
There were words on the page as well. He recognized the lyrics of some of the songs from _Dirty Dancing, _as well as the first part of Coldplay's Clocks; _The lights go out and I can't be saved/ Tides that I tried to swim against/ have brought me down upon my knees/ Oh I beg, I beg and plead._

Sasori carefully replaced the sketchbook, his mind racing. He heard the two brothers arguing just outside the door, and smirked. He stood up and walked out the door.  
Jed and Deidara looked at him. He smirked, and pulled Deidara towards him, kissing him on the cheek.

"I just wanted to say thanks for last night. See ya later." he said, walking past and down the stairs. Jed and Deidara stared at him as he walked out, closing the front door behind him. Deidara rubbed his cheek, his gaze still fixed on the closed door, filled with disbelief.  
He stepped forward and started walking down the stairs. Jed just watched as Deidara walked out the front door, too.  
Then he grinned, turned around, and walked back into his own room.

Sasori walked down the long drive way, feeling satisfied. He pulled out his phone and called Pain.

"Hey,"

"Sasori? What's up?"

"Just saw Deidara."

"Yeah?"

"What does it mean if a person listens to songs you made out to, eats the lollipops you always do, and draws your eyes in sketchbooks?"

"...They love you? They're...creepy?"

"The first one, stupid. That's what I thought," Sasori said, shutting his phone as a wickedly delighted grin lit up his face.

"Sasori, stop!" Deidara's voice called from behind him. His grin widened, but he didn't turn around. He could hear Deidara's running footsteps coming closer.  
As soon as they were close enough, he turned around suddenly, stepped forwards quickly, opening his arms, and caught Deidara, who hadn't had enough time to stop. He spun him around before kissing him.  
The moment Deidara's feet touched ground again, he backed away, rubbing his mouth and frowning, but Sasori didn't miss the blush on his cheeks.

"What happened to personal space?" Deidara asked in annoyance, and Sasori laughed.

"It eloped with public displays of affection. Whatever happened to shoes?" Sasori asked, glancing down at Deidara's bare feet. Deidara rolled his eyes.

"I didn't have time to grab shoes, un. That's all." "Because you wanted to run after me?" Deidara snorted and shoved Sasori sideways.

"Of course not! ...because...you were walking quickly, and my shoes were far away."

"So basically...because you wanted to run after me?" Sasori asked again, and Deidara rolled his eyes.

"Fine, un. Because it's your birthday, I'll let you think what you like."

"Good." Sasori said with a grin as he followed Deidara into the front garden.

They lay down facing each other on the grass. Sasori pulled out a lollipop from his pocket and unwrapped it. He didn't miss how Deidara's eyes unwillingly followed it as he put it into his mouth, and he smirked.

"So, you wanna tell me what you were arguing with your brother about?"

"No..."

"Tell me, Deidara."

"Fine." Deidara rolled over and looked up at the sky, annoyed at himself. He really ought to be kicking Sasori off of his property, but instead he was explaining something to him that he'd never talked about to anybody else. And yet.

"When I was younger...like thirteen or so, a lot of people...wanted to go out with me."

"I can understand why," Sasori said drily, and Deidara shushed him.

"Anyway, I didn't like any of them. I suppose that I'm just a very picky person, and looking back, I wasn't very nice when I told them no. But nevermind. There was this one guy, though-"

"A _boy_?"

"Don't interrupt, un."

"Fine."

"He really wanted to...ah...well, anyways, he started to follow me around...and send me weird mail...and he'd always be there wherever I went... and he used to make me these cds..."

"He stalked you?"

"...You could say that, un."

"What songs were on the cds?"

"Why does it matter?"

"Just wondering."

"For one, there was 'Every breath you take'."

"Ooh, the stalker song?"

"Yeah. Anyway, so I got so freaked out, that..."

"That made you not want to date people?"

"I guess you could say that, un." he said, and Sasori nodded, and rolled over as well, also looking up at the cloudy sky.

"Anyway, Jed was at school when that happened, and nobody ever told him about that. So he never knew... And then we went to this school festival (I didn't want to go, but there were fireworks, so...).  
There was a kissing booth, and one of the girls I said no rather..._rudely _to was running it. Jed made me get in line, so I did. When I got to the head of the line, she kinda...well.  
She punched me, and Jed always teases me that 'nobody would even take money to kiss me' and stuff. Because he didn't know what happened before that, un." Deidara explained, and Sasori laughed; he couldn't help it.

"It's not funny!" Deidara insisted, but he couldn't help himself, and started to laugh a little bit, too.

"Can I ask another question?" Sasori asked.

"You just did."

"I meant _another _one, stupid."

"No, un. You insult me and expect to get what you want?"

"Yes."

"...Fine, but only because I'm in a good mood, un."

"Really? I can't tell."

"You're seriously pushing it here, un."

"Fine, okay. Who's the girl in the pictures in your house?" Sasori asked. Deidara was silent for a long time.

"Deidara?" Sasori asked, rolling over to look at Deidara, who was staring up at the sky with a grim expression on his face.  
"You don't have to tell me." Sasori said finally, feeling awkward. Deidara rolled his eyes and looked at Sasori with raised eyebrows.

"As if. You'd just ask me later, un."

"True." Deidara sighed. "Those are pictures of my older sister, Mia." he said before taking a deep breath.

"A few years ago, when she was eighteen...Mia had a boyfriend, un. They had been dating for a year, and according to her, they were 'deeply in love'. He was actually a nice guy, and he used to give me piggybacks. I was like...eight or so, and Jed was eleven.  
But anyways, he finally decided that he liked Mia's money more than her. So he told her that they should elope, and that they should bring 2 000 000 with them, un. Guess who provided most of the money?  
Anyway, they went to Chile, and Mia sent us three letters. One saying that they'd arrived, one saying that they'd bought a house, and one that they had started to fight.  
We never heard from her again. We called the police, naturally, but nobody ever found her or her husband. Or the money, un." Deidara finished, and Sasori stayed silent for a while, giving his friend time to think.

"So is that why you're afraid to fall in love?" he asked finally, and Deidara stared up at the sky as it began to rain lightly.

"What?" he asked, and Sasori sat up, crawling over to Deidara so he could see him.

"Is that why you're afraid to fall in love?" he repeated, and Deidara frowned, turning his head.

"I don't know what you're talking about, un." he said, picking at the grass as raindrops began to fall on them. Sasori pushed some hair away from Deidara's face, looking at him curiously.

"Yeah, you do." Sasori said quietly. Deidara looked back at him and narrowed his eyes, not saying anything. "It's raining, un." he commented finally, and Sasori laughed lightly.

"It is. But you're not sugar- you won't melt." Sasori quoted, and Deidara grinned briefly. It began to pour down, and they heard the rumble of thunder in the distance.

"Where are you gonna stay?" Deidara asked suddenly, realizing that Sasori was really far away from the school. Sasori shrugged, taking the stick that was the only thing left of his lollipop out of his mouth.

"I don't know. There's a motel about a half-hour away." he said, but Deidara shook his head no. Sasori looked at him, a question in his eyes, but Deidara didn't elaborate. The rain beat down, soaking them to the skin.

"You are afraid of love." Sasori said again after a bit, looking up a the sky, blinking as rain fell into his eyes.

"That doesn't make sense, un." Deidara said, knowing full well that what he had just said made no sense either.

"Nope, it's official. I've decided it, and it's true." Sasori said, looking back down at Deidara, who rolled his eyes.

"But," Sasori continued, looking adoringly down at Deidara, a smile on his face, "I've also decided that I'm going to cure you of your problem." he said.

He bent down and kissed Deidara, who had been staring at him the whole time.

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Hope you guys liked it, and I'll update again soon!


	13. It's Raining Men

**It's Raining Men!  
**

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**Yay! an update! **Sorry for the slow update, but I was a little busy. Thanks as always to my reviewers, and to everyone who has subscribed, etc, or given me feedback and help with this story. At the end of this chapter is clarification of what exactly happened in the closet a few chapters ago, for those that wanted it. By the way, for those of you that might be keeping up with the Naruto manga...Where the hell did Deidara go! O_O! Anyways, hope you like this!

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"And exactly how do you plan on going about that?" Deidara asked, pushing Sasori off of him after a minute and rubbing his mouth. Sasori sat up and grinned at him as rain dripped down his face.

"Honestly, Deidara. You're so unromantic." he said, crawling back over to his friend and wrapping his arms back around him.

"I see. By criticizing me, un. Good luck." Deidara said, and Sasori rolled his eyes.

"Come on, it's raining. We should go inside." said Deidara as he sat up. Sasori laughed.

"It's been raining for a while. Besides, where 'inside' do you want to go? I should find a hotel."

"No, just stay over, un." Deidara said, standing up and stretching.

"Ooh, you're inviting me to sleep with you? How forward of you, Deidara." Sasori said, standing up as well and fluttering his eyelids at Deidara, who shoved him away, causing him to fall again.  
Sasori grabbed Deidara's wrist, pulling him down with him, and they fell in a heap on the soaking wet grass.

"You're crazy!" Deidara said angrily as Sasori wrapped his arms around him and started rolling them down the hill leading to an apple grove.

"About_ you_, stupid." Sasori said cheerfully as they rolled together through the wet grass. They hit a tree, and Deidara pushed Sasori off of him, sitting up before chucking a stick at him.

"Now you're calling me stupid? I honestly don't think it's gonna work, un." he said, glaring at Sasori, who ducked the stick and laughed, sitting up as well.

"You could always make it easier for me and just _admit _that you like me, Deidara." he said, crawling on his knees towards the other boy who tried to back away, but tripped and landed on his butt.

"I _don't, _and stop laughing, un!" Deidara said, chucking another stick. Sasori ducked that one too, and kept crawling towards Deidara, who backed up against an apple tree.

"Why don't you stop running? Or are you scared of me?" Sasori asked in a quiet, teasing voice as he came yet closer, placing a hand on Deidara's shoulder.

"Dream on, loser. I will _never _be scared of _you_." he sniffed, and Sasori laughed before leaning forward even closer.

"What the hell are you doing?" Deidara asked after a moment, staring down at the mop of wet red hair below his chin.

"Listening to your heart." Sasori replied, and Deidara rolled his eyes, raising his head to the sky. _Honestly...is he __always like this? _He asked the sky silently before closing his eyes. _Probably. Of all the things to do in the middle of a rainstorm..._

"Get off."

"No."

"Off."

"No."

"Off, un. Right now."

"Make me." Deidara kind of felt like throttling Sasori. But, as it was his birthday...that wouldn't be a very nice present.

"How?" he asked instead. He felt Sasori smile against his chest. In fact, his t-shirt was so wet that he could feel Sasori _breathe._

"You're in art school, Deidara. Be creative." he said teasingly.  
Once again, Deidara swallowed his _serious _urge to throttle the redhead.

"Okay, un." he said, and placed his hands on Sasori's shoulders. He raised his head, probably expecting...  
Okay, Deidara wasn't exactly sure he _wanted _to know what Sasori was expecting.  
In any case, it wasn't what he got; a swift, strong push. Sasori fell back onto the grass, looking up at Deidara with a heart-wrenchingly puppy-eyed look of terrible betrayal and sadness.

"Oh, don't give me that." Deidara snapped, crossing his arms and looking away pointedly. His eyes unwillingly returned to Sasori's big pleading eyes.

"D-Don't do that!" he said angrily, but Sasori didn't move.  
Or blink.

"Stop...stop it..." Deidara said, feeling his resolve faltering as clearly as through it were a wall crumbling down. Sasori simply looked at him.

"I hate you." Deidara muttered, leaning forwards and pulling Sasori up, and accidentally pulled him into a hug.

"That's more like it, loverboy." Sasori said, grinning as Deidara blushed and glared at him.

"Don't call me that, un."

"Come on, stupid! It's my _birthday_. You're supposed to let me do what I want."

"What is that, something you tell people before you rape them, un?" Deidara asked, and Sasori threw back his head and laughed.

Somehow they made it back to Deidara's house.

"Don't bother," Deidara said when Sasori started to try and dry himself off before walking in.

"Follow me." Deidara said, leading the way up the stairs and down the hall, this time turning left at the end. Sasori tried not to drip on the carpet, but there was no point; it was already soaked from Deidara's feet, and drips from his hair and shirt and pants.

"You want a shower?" Deidara asked, pushing open the door to the bathroom and shoving Jed out.

"What the fu-" Deidara slammed the door on his brother, locked it, and rolled his eyes.  
Sasori just grinned; it was pretty funny to see Deidara boss around his older, taller, and stronger-looking brother.

"Yeah, thanks." Sasori answered Deidara's previous question.

"Okay. You can go first. Towels are right there," Deidara said, pointing to a closet door. Sasori grinned and stripped off his shirt.

"Don't change _now_!" Deidara exclaimed, turning around and grabbing the door handle. Sasori put his hand on the door, keeping it closed.

"What?" Deidara asked, turning and looking at him. Sasori didn't say anything, he just smiled. Then, "Stay. It's my birthday." Deidara stared at him for a moment, then sat down grumpily, pointedly shutting his eyes.

"You're totally abusing your birthday rights, you know, un." he grumbled, and Sasori laughed lightly. Deidara shifted uncomfortably as he heard the rest of Sasori's clothes hit the floor.  
He heard the shower door open, and the shower turn on. He waited a few moments, feeling the room get warmer as the mirrors steamed over.  
As soon as he was sure that the shower would be full of steam, Deidara opened his eyes and raised his head to look at the shower, but...

"WHAT THE FUCK?" Deidara scooted backwards so hard that he banged his head hard against the wall, but he didn't care- he was gaping at Sasori. Who was sitting right in front of him. Deidara's eyes betrayed him, and flicked down, thankfully confirming that Sasori was at least wearing a towel (albeit a short one) around his hips. Sasori just smirked.

"I didn't know you were such a pervert, Deidara." he teased.  
Deidara couldn't find his voice for a moment, and when he did, he was _not happy_.

"What the _hell_ are you doing! I thought you were in the shower!"

"So you could check on me?"

"_NO!_"

"Then why'd you look?"

"I'm allergic to closing my eyes."

"Liar."

"Nuh uh."

"Ya huh."

"Nuh _uh_!"

"Ya _huh!_"

"You're so immature, un."

"Hypocrite."

"Just get in there." Deidara said, getting to his feet, pulling Sasori up by the ear ("Ow! Ow ow! Owwww!") and literally shoving him into the shower before slamming the door.

"Geez, you're so pushy." Sasori grumbled from inside the shower, tossing out his towel, which hit Deidara in the face.  
Deidara tore it off of his head and seriously considered just bursting in there and whipping Sasori with it. But then he'd get accused of being am S&M freak or something.

Honestly.

So he just dumped it into the laundry hamper and sat down on the floor again. He had been a bit cold, but it was much warmer now that the room was full of steam.

"Steamy in here, isn't it?" Sasori commented from inside the shower. Deidara was surprised at how awkward he felt, talking to Sasori...who most definitely was naked, just feet from him. Urgh. And yet...

"Yes." he replied finally, and Sasori chuckled.

"What?" Deidara asked before he could stop himself.

"Nothing."

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Fine, un."

"Don't you want to know?"

"You're not telling me, un."

"I will."

"So hurry up and _talk_!"

"It's called antici-"

"..."

"...pation."

"I hate you."  
Sasori laughed again.

"I bet it's steamy because you're in here." he said finally, and Deidara rolled his eyes for about the one billionth time in the last two hours.

"Is that all you got? That's pathetic! What a let down!" Deidara said dismissively, absent-mindedly re-folding the towels in the cupboard.

"Well what did you want me to say?" Sasori demanded, but Deidara didn't reply.

He wasn't sure himself.

Sasori finished his shower, and Deidara shoved a full-length towel over the top of the shower before he could walk out naked. Because that's exactly what he would have done.

"Party pooper." Sasori muttered as he passed Deidara, who slapped his ass in annoyance. And then he realized what he'd just done. Sasori stared at him. Deidara felt like slapping himself in the face. He blushed bright red, grabbed a towel, and shot into the shower, slamming the door behind him.

"Don't you _dare _come in, un. Or I'll kick you out of the house. Naked."

"_You'll _be naked?"

"No, you."

"That could be cool."

"I'll pour burning water on you."

"Kinky."

"...I'll shave your head."  
Deidara grinned as he heard Sasori practically _throw _himself away from the shower door. Deidara pulled off his soaked clothing and threw it over the top of the shower stall before turning on the water. He was still red in the face, still demanding himself _why the hell he had slapped Sasori's ass?_

"If you had to date me or Pain, who would you go out with?" Sasori asked unexpectedly, and Deidara accidentally squirted out too much shampoo in surprise.

"Do I have to answer?" he asked, stalling while he thought about it."

"Yeah."

"Can I lie?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"That's cheating."

"I always cheat, un." He heard Sasori laugh lightly.

"You're a terrible person, then. But don't lie."

"Fine."

"...So who would you pick?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"Why do you think?"

"Because you have a huge sexual yearning for Pain, and you're just wondering if you have any competition?"

"_No!_"

"Then, because you have a huge _emotional _yearning for Pain, and you're just-"

"_No_, stupid!"

"Again with the insults! What will I do with you?"

"What do you _want _to do with me?"

"Strangle you, un."

"With a tie?"

"With my hands."

"That's cool. That's a start. ...Would you rather go out with me or Pain?" Deidara sighed, massaging the shampoo into his hair, trying to pile it all on top of his head to make it easier.

"It depends."

"On what?"

"Well, you have to describe the situation. Is this a 'would I ask either of you out' thing? Or did you both ask _me, _and I have to choose?" he asked. Sasori snorted.

"You're such a picky person. We both asked you."

"Oh, okay. How did you both ask me?"

"What?"

"Well, with fireworks? With flowers? With an email? It depends."

"Seriously? You're so fussy! Does that stuff even _matter_?"

"Of course it does, un."

"But let's say that you like me a lot better-"

"Why?"

"Come on, just _say _that you do."

"Okay."

"If I ask you, and you like me a _lot _better, but I ask normally, and Pain asks with fireworks, who would you say yes to?"

"You. Hypothetically."

"Right, so what does-"

"Well, if I like you both _equally, _I'd have to see which one of you put the most effort into asking me out, un."

"You're a goldigger." Sasori laughed, and Deidara shook his head, but smiled.

"No I'm not. I just like to be spoiled, un." Sasori leaned against the wall and smiled.

"Okay. Let's say that I ask you out with... fireworks spelling your name. At a theme park."

"Okay, that would be nice."

"...And Pain asks you out with...scuba diving and...got your name engraved on the moon. Who would you go out with?" Sasori asked, genuinely curious about Deidara's answer.  
Deidara thought about it for a few minutes.

"Is this assuming that you are both looking for a serious relationship, not a one-time-thing?"

"Deidara, do you _seriously think _that anybody would get your _name engraved on the moon _if they only wanted _one date_!" Sasori asked, incredulous. Deidara laughed.

"Of course. I'm worth it, un." he joked, and Sasori rolled his eyes, but smiled.

"Well, I'd have to say you." Deidara said finally, and Sasori felt an odd, jumpy, happy sensation.  
Silly, because this was only hypothetical, but still...progress!

"Okay, why?" Sasori asked, and Deidara sighed, de-tangling a knot he'd found in his hair.

"Because I don't like water very much. And I like fireworks. That's why." Sasori rolled his eyes and stood up again.

"Okay, what about if both of us just asked you."

"No fireworks?"

"No fireworks." Deidara chewed his lower lip lightly, completely aware of what Sasori wanted him to say, and of what he himself wanted to say.

"I would say...I would say yes to Pain." Sasori turned and stared at the shower. It was steamy, but he could make out a kind of pink blur which he knew was Deidara.

"Why?" he asked finally. "Because Pain's straight. No relationship at all, un." Deidara reasoned, and Sasori laughed.

"Fine, you win." he muttered, annoyed that he still felt sad. He turned and looked at the door, wondering if he should leave; he didn't feel like hanging out with Deidara very much anymore.

"But," Deidara said just as Sasori stepped towards the door, as if reading his thoughts, "if Pain wasn't straight..." Deidara's voice became softer, and Sasori had to walk closer to even hear him over the sound of falling water.

"If Pain wasn't straight, I'd probably go out with you."

Deidara looked up as he saw Sasori's hand pressed into the glass of the shower's wall. He half-smiled, and pressed his own against the glass as well.

After a few moments, Sasori interrupted the silence; "You take _really long _showers."

"Shut it, un." Deidara retorted.

"So, are we-"

"You're sleeping on the floor."

"Never mind."

"Well, you _could _sleep in the guest room, if you think you'd be more comfortable there-"

"Shawty the floor!" Sasori said, running into Deidara's room. Deidara followed with a wry smile, closing the door behind him.

"So, your parents are...?" Sasori asked, not trying to be nosy, but he was pretty curious. Deidara flicked on the light and sat down on his bed, where Sasori joined him.

"My mom's sleeping in a hotel today. And probably tomorrow. Dad's probably going to stay in his study for a few hours, then go into work again. That's what he does when he's annoyed; he goes away and works. I have no idea how he does it, un." Deidara replied flatly, and Sasori nodded, glancing out of the window; it was already pitch-black outside.  
Not surprising, considering it was already eleven-something.

After they'd showered, Deidara had given Sasori some of his own clothes (rather vindictively; a _Potter Puppet Pals _t-shirt and jeans that were a little too tight), and they'd made spaghetti together.  
After dinner, they'd played slap jack, cheat!, spoons, and strip poker with Jed, who'd gotten bored and gone off to find his girlfriend halfway through the speed tournament.

Sasori rolled over and looked up at Deidara, who was silently considering kicking him off the bed.

"If you were going to marry somebody..."

"Oh, God."

"Shut up. If you were... how would you want them to propose?"

"What kind of a question is _that_? I'm _fifteen! _Why would I be thinking about that kind of stuff?" Deidara asked, surprised at how defensive he was being. But then... Sasori's curiosity was a little worrying.

"It's a huge character test thing." Sasori said seriously, glaring when Deidara laughed.

"No, I'm serious! Like, if Ino was gonna be proposed to, she'd probably want them to get a tattoo of her name, and then announce it at a party or a huge social event. Because that's her character." Sasori explained as Deidara looked at him sceptically.

"However," he continued, "She might also have a suppressed romantic side, where she'd prefer a lot of flowers, and maybe a ring in champagne in a gondola in Italy. Or just a pillow in a hot chocolate at home with flowers and romantic music. You know?" Sasori said, and Deidara raised an eyebrow.

"But you," Sasori began, pointing at Deidara's chest for emphasis, "I don't know. You're an interesting person-"

"Thanks," Deidara said drily.

"No problem. But it's like... every time I ask you something, you surprise me. It's annoying, because it's like I still don't know you at _all_, but it's also really fun." Deidara looked down at Sasori, who smiled slightly. He cleared his throat loudly.

"Well, okay. What did you want to know again?" he asked, even though he still remembered. He liked to listen to Sasori talk.

"How would you like to be proposed to?"

"You know, that's kind of a girly question-"

"Answer it, moron!"

"Fine, sheesh, un. I guess...is this a multi-millionaire asking me? Or is it a bum?" he asked, and Sasori kind of face-palmed.

"Let's say that they're willing to spend money...just not more than what's reasonable." he said, and Deidara nodded, bringing his knees up to his chest as he thought.

"Well...fireworks.."

"Like I didn't see _that _coming," Sasori said, rolling his eyes before laughing as Deidara chucked a pillow at him,

"Fireworks...that would spell it out or something. Or maybe a hot air balloon ride or something... or a reserved theme park... and then back at his-"

"GAY!"

"_Their _place, then, asshole. Back at _their _place...um...oh, I don't know. This is a really stupid question, un." Deidara said, scowling as he looked out the window, but Sasori didn't miss that he was blushing.

"Well what about you?"

"What?"

"What about you? Same question, un." Sasori looked at Deidara in amusement.

"I'm not answering such a girly question." he said, and Deidara stared at him.

"But...but...but...!" Deidara couldn't even speak.

"Butt?" Sasori asked, grinning at Deidara and raising an eyebrow, "Speaking of that, _why _did you slap my ass in the bathroom?" Sasori asked, a grin on his face as he leaned forward like he was in a soap opera.

Deidara slapped him across the face with a pillow, then kicked him off the bed and told him that he was lucky it's his birthday, or else he'd 'experience the true meaning of pain'.

"You still didn't give me a birthday present."

Deidara opened his eyes, such a horribly grumpy expression on his face that he could give Grumpy the dwarf a run for his money, as he glared at the clock by his bed.

Two-thirty.

Am.

_Sasori...It's not your birthday any more...I can kill you now... _Deidara thought evilly, but knew that if he said that, he'd _never _get any sleep.

So he propped himself up on his elbow, and looked down at Sasori. He could hardly see the redhead in the darkness, but he could see his eyes and the shape of his face against his dark hair and the white pillow. He leaned down pointedly, kissed his own hand, and smacked it on Sasori's forehead. "Happy birthday, asshole." he muttered, rolling over and closing his eyes again, ready to sleep again.

And yet.

Thirty seconds later, Sasori was leaning over him, his breath on his neck, his lips on his cheek.

"Why can't you be a _normal _houseguest, un?" Deidara asked grouchily as he hid under his pillow, Sasori's hands running up his chest.

"Normal? Never heard of the word, loverboy." Sasori said, tugging the pillow off of Deidara's face and planting a victorious kiss on his mouth.

The next morning, Deidara rolled out of bed, stepped on Sasori's face, (making both of them yell out, for very different reasons), and stumbled to the bathroom. He checked his messages as he brushed his teeth. He saw that he had a text from Pain.

He read it; '_So what exactly did you guys do in the storage room, anyway_?' He spat out the toothpaste, rinsed, and cleared his throat loudly before texting back quickly.

'_Absolutely nothing_.'

'_Yeah right.'_

_'Okay, well not THAT.'_

_ 'Why were Sasori's pants down?'_ Deidara cursed Pain under his breath then texted back; '_How should I know? He's a pervert. Now stop texting, I have 2 go._'

He shut his phone.

Sasori sat up, massaging his cheek, and took out his phone. There were two texts from Pain.

Grinning, he read them; '_Whatcha doin?' _and '_What did you guys do in the storage room, anyway?_'  
He texted back quickly, first making sure Deidara wasn't finished in the bathroom.

_'Right now Deidara just stepped on my face. I slept over.'_

He pressed send, then replied to the second one; _'Sadly, not much at all. Honestly, I didn't think it would be...y'know...right. It was so funny, though. He was about to fall asleep, and he pulled down my jeans...then __fell asleep on me.'_ Pain answered a few seconds later.

_'Seriously? Let down, much.'_

_ 'I know, right? It was funny, though.'_

Meanwhile, Pain pressed the inbox button on his phone again. He grinned as he re-read Deidara's answer to his question, then Sasori's.

It really was entertaining to be friends with both of them, he thought as he sat up.

And then he realized... _I _REALLY _need a better hobby. _

He shut his phone and picked up his ipod, strolling out of the room.

* * *

**Hope you liked it! **So sorry for the slow update, but I was a bit preoccupied. I'll try very very hard to have an update of I Love (for those of you who also read this story's sequel) up before Monday, when I'm going to Ottawa for a week. If not, I apologize in advance! Thanks for the reviews, and I hope you had just as much fun reading this chapter as I did writing it!**  
**


	14. Something Beautiful

**Something Beautiful**

* * *

Okay, so this was a reasonably quick update. I know I ought to be updating my other stories, namely I love, but this chapter practically wrote itself! So, here it is. Thanks as always to my reviewers, etc! Also, _I Do **NOT **Own Naruto or Any Magazines, Songs, etc Mentioned In This Chapter!_

* * *

"So...why were you awake at two in the morning, anyways?" Deidara asked, glancing at Sasori who looked up from his magazine.

"Oh, you woke me up." he replied, tossing the magazine onto the other bus seat. It had been twenty minutes since they'd caught the bus from Deidara's house, and so far they hadn't said anything.  
Deidara blinked at him.

"How did I wake you up? I was on the bed!" he said, confused. Sasori grinned at him before yawning and stretching.

"You talk in your sleep. But before that you kicked a pillow onto my face." he said, and Deidara stared at him, reddening slightly.

"I don't talk in my sleep!" he said angrily, but Sasori just grinned. "I don't! I never _ever _have before!" Deidara continued, sure that Sasori was lying; a _very small _percentage of people talk in their sleep, and Deidara had shared a room with Jed for years without him ever mentioning it.

"Well, you did. But where's my apology?"

"For what?" Deidara asked, and Sasori punched him lightly on the shoulder.

"For kicking a pillow in my face, dummy!" Deidara rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.

"Why should I apologize? It was well-deserved, un." Sasori laughed.

"Why? What have I ever done to you? ...Don't answer that." he said, glancing at Deidara, who had raised his eyebrows.

"Well, back to this alleged 'sleep talking'," Deidara said, flicking a speck of dirt off of his jeans and leaning back against the old bus seat, "what exactly do you claim I said?" he asked, and Sasori leaned against the window, crossing his arms and grinning.

"Well, the first thing I heard you say was 'Sasori, I love you, I want to be with you forever, I want to spend every day of my life kissing you and making-"

"Liar!" Deidara interrupted, pinching Sasori's wrist until he stopped talking.

"Fine, fine," Sasori said, rubbing the red skin on his wrist, looking reproachfully at Deidara before continuing, "you actually just said something like 'stop talking, ditch the clothes and let's do the horizontal mambo, just you and me, Sasori my lov-"

"You're so full of shit." Deidara interrupted again, looking out the window and rolling his eyes. "Are you sure that all this didn't happen in your perverted, sick dream? Because if that's seriously what I'm saying in my subconscious, I should see a counsellor or something, un." he commented bluntly, and Sasori flicked his head before relaxing again into an easy smile as they bumped along the dirt road.

"Fine then. Do you want to know what you _really _said?" he asked, and Deidara looked at him.

"Let me guess. 'More, Sasori, more?'" he asked sarcastically.

"Is that what you'd _like_ to say?" Sasori asked teasingly, and Deidara rolled his eyes again.

"Absolutely not. What did I really say?" he asked, and Sasori smiled, rumpling his dark red hair.

"You said something about the colour red, and then you said 'Touch here, enter here. Can't you read the signs?'" he said, cracking up at the end. Deidara stared at him.

"You're such a liar!" he exclaimed, but Sasori shook his head.

"No, I swear! Not my fault you have weird dreams," he said, grinning at Deidara who shook his head and looked away.  
As he looked out the opposite window, Deidara closed his eyes in embarrassment, feeling his face flush slightly, because Sasori's words had reminded him of his dream the night before; a dream in which Sasori himself had featured rather prominently.

"Do you want to play the sausage game?" Sasori asked, and Deidara turned to look at him, abandoning his inner game of bus ride bingo.

"What's that?" he asked curiously, and Sasori grinned, a playful dimple appearing on his cheek.

"It's a...game..." he said mysteriously, and Deidara suddenly got the feeling that it was some kind of...kissing game, like Seven minutes in heaven, or something.

"...Why am I feeling nervous?" Deidara asked, narrowing his eyes, and Sasori laughed.

"It's probably just your spidey senses." he teased, and Deidara shot him a look.

"Before I explain how to play, how about we make a punishment for the loser?" Sasori asked, and Deidara folded his arms over his chest, giving Sasori an annoyed glare.

"Why would there be a punishment?" he asked, and Sasori smirked at him; "Because if there wasn't, you wouldn't play!" he said knowingly, and Deidara sighed, blowing a stray hair out of his face.

"Fine, then. What's the punishment?" he asked, and Sasori turned around on the seat to face Deidara.

"It should be different for both of us," he began, chewing on his thumb thoughtfully.

"How about we think of a punishment for the other?" he suggested, and Deidara agreed.

"Okay, un. If you lose, you're not allowed to sleep in my bed for the next two weeks." he said, smiling smugly at Sasori, who looked like his cat had just been run over by a car -twice- in front of him. He got ahold of himself, and smirked at Deidara.

"Fine. But if _you _lose, _I _get to style your hair for the next two _months_. That's every day. And I can dye it, cut it, perm it, straighten it, _anything I want._" he said, grinning when he saw Deidara visibly pale and grab his hair protectively.

"F-Fine. But...please don't cut it!" Deidara begged. Sasori raised his eyebrows and sighed, "Well, I can't make any promises..." he left the threat hanging in the air, and Deidara immediately tensed.

"Fine, okay, let's hurry up at play! I can't wait for my two weeks free of waking up next to you!" Deidara said happily before blinking. "That sounded..._really _weird, un." he commented, and Sasori nodded, laughing.

"Okay. How you play the game is, one person picks a word, or two. That becomes the only thing the other person can say. If they laugh, or smile, or say anything other than the word, they lose. Traditionally, it's usually 'Salami' or something, but we're playing a different version."

"...Okay...We're gonna play twice, so it's fair, right?" Deidara asked, and Sasori nodded and said 'of course'.

"Okay. You go first." Sasori instructed, then picked a word.

"What's the word?" Deidara asked, and Sasori smirked.

"'Sasori'." he replied, and Deidara raised his eyebrows, but didn't say anything.  
Sasori grinned and began; "What are you wearing under your jeans today?"

"Sasori." Deidara said through gritted teeth, knowing that he was turning red already.

"If you could have sex with anyone in the world, who would it be with?"

"...Sasori."

"What did you have for breakfast today?"

"Sasori."

"What's your mattress made of?"

"Sasori."

"What's your favourite thing to have in your pants?"

"...Sasori..."

And so it continued.  
After twenty minutes, Sasori gave up, after having asked things like 'What's your favourite flavour of icecream?", "What's your favourite sex toy?", and even "If there was one person in the whole world you would call 'Master', who would you love it to be?"  
Sasori had never seen anyone looking as sadistic as Deidara did once it was his turn.

"Okay. Your word is 'Ino', un." he said, smirking at Sasori, who swore.

"Alright. Who turns you on the most?"

"...Ino..."

"What's your favourite belt to wear?"

"Ino..."

"Who would you love to watch give birth?"

"Oh God no!" Sasori shouted, paling.  
Deidara laughed harder than he had in his life as he watched Sasori realize that he had lost, and then imagine Ino giving birth.  
The colour of his face was not unlike that of cottage cheese.

Half an hour later, Deidara looked around after feeling something on his arm, and found Sasori asleep next to him. Deidara looked down at the mop of red hair on his shoulder, and sighed before grabbing an old magazine from the seat next to them.  
He glanced outside, and judged from the surroundings that it would be another two hours before they got back to the school.  
He checked the front cover of the magazine, and raised his eyebrow when he discovered it was an old issue of _Cosmogirl _Magazine.  
He flipped through the pages, ignoring all the ones about Miley Cyrus and the Jonas brothers, and at the end of it he found a quiz.

"'Do you really love him?'" Deidara murmured, reading the title out. He rolled his eyes and looked at Sasori.  
Who then decided to start snoring.  
Deidara eased a penout of his back pocket, and poked Sasori with it.

"Mphrragrrhghh..." More snoring.

"Pathetic," Deidara sighed, licked the end of the pen, and folded the magazine, reading the first question.

_Have you ever dreamed about him? _

Deidara raised his eyebrows, and checked off _No way! _

Next question.

_If he smiles at you in the halway between classes, you: _Deidara cleared his throat, glanced at Sasori, then checked off _Ignore him and walk straight to Double Math. _

Next question.

_Do you ever fantasize about him? _

Deidara wondered exactly what kind of person would get a 'yes you're in love' using this quiz; clearly somebody who couldn't prioritize to save their life. He very firmly marked _Absolutely not _onto the quiz, and moved on to the next question.

_Is he hot? _

Deidara laughed to himself, thinking how shallow the quiz was. And then he cleared his throat again, scribbling a checkmark next to _A total turnoff. _He grinned again, imagining Sasori's face if he saw the answer.

_Wait! _Deidara thought suddenly, staring at the seat in front of him in shock, _Why would Sasori care? I'm not taking this quiz...like, this isn't about HIM! It's about...it's about...Damnit, it's about him. _Deidara scowled darkly, and read the next question. 

_If you could go on a date with him anywhere, where would you go? _

He read the answers, raised his eyebrows, glanced at Sasori again, then checked off _To Disneyland, Florida. _It had been a tough choice; there was also _Just a picnic, but I would have a horrible time, _but Deidara had decided that, ultimately, he'd rather go to an amusement park than a field. Imagine if Sasori made the sandwiches! Disgusting.

Next question.

_Does he have a girlfriend? _

Deidara chewed his lip, thinking. He remembered that Pain had said that Sasori never dated any of the girls (and guys) he made out with at school, so he put an X next to _Yes, but she's pig-ugly. _Just because. 

_Are you close friends? _

Deidara re-read the next question, and glanced at Sasori again. Without his realizing it, Sasori had in fact become one of his closest friends. After another moment of thought, he checked off _Yes, very close friends. _

The next question was, _Are you? _

Deidara snorted; what an open-ended question. He read the options (_a nobody, a blonde prep, a brunette original, a redheaded punk, a black-haired goth_) and snorted again; what if you were a brunette prep? Or a redheaded cancer patient who never got labelled? Or what if you had blue hair? After some thought, he picked the _brunette original, _simply because he didn't feel that he fell under the title of 'prep'. Or 'punk' or 'goth' for that matter.

Next question. 

_Have you ever puckered up in class? _

He vaguely wondered what 'puckered up' _meant_, and put _No, what does 'pucker up' mean? _The last question was _Finally, do you have a good relationship with your boyfriend? _Deidara grinned, and re-read the _Does he have a girlfriend _question. Was this quiz implying that the user had a crush on somebody they weren't going out with? Was it perhaps supporting cheating? _Or am I thinking too much about this?_ Deidara asked himself, and circled _No, I can't stand him, _just for fun.

He flipped the page, and checked his result.

_50%: It's obvious you hate boys, but if you hate this boy, but still feel a pang in your stomach when you see him, stop playing hard-to-get and TALK TO HIM! _Deidara rolled his eyes, surprised that he even got 50% on the quiz.

"Yeah, Deidara. Stop playing hard-to-get and _talk _to me," Deidara looked down. Sasori was, evidentially, awake. He didn't move his head from Deidara's shoulder, and wrapped both arms around his waist.

"Talk to me," he repeated, close to Deidara's ear.

"Get off me," Deidara snapped irritably. Sasori (for once) did as he was told, but grabbed the magazine out of Deidara's hand and flipped back to the quiz page.

"Have you ever dreamed about him...'No way'. Seriously? Yeah you have," Sasori said, smirking at Deidara who denied it loudly, but Sasori took the pen and circled _Yes, a lot of times_.

"Okay, 'If he smiles at you', bla bla bla...Straight to Double Math? You don't _take _math, Deidara." Sasori rolled his eyes, and circled _Go over and talk to him._

"Okay, 'Do you ever fantasize about him?'" Sasori met Deidara's eyes and laughed.

"Yeah, you do. Come on," he said, grinning as he changed the answer to _Yeah, I daydream about dating him._

"'Is he hot?'" Sasori winked at Deidara, who smirked vindictively when Sasori stared in shock at his answer.

"Deidara! I'm hurt! Have you _seen _this gorgeous body?" he demanded, half-joking, pulling up his shirt and striking a pose before scribbling out Deidara's answer and putting a huge circle around '_I drool whenever I see his body'_.

"Next, 'If you could go on a date with him'... Disneyland, I like your style." he commented with a dreamy smile, which Deidara huffily ignored.

"A 'pig-ugly' girlfriend? Are you jealous of...of whoever?" Sasori asked curiously, and Deidara caught himself before he laughed.

"Dream on, loser. But...'whoever'? Seriously? You can't even _remember _the last person you dated?" he asked Sasori, who rolled his eyes and read out the next question.

"'Are you close friends?' 'Yes, very close friends'. _Awwwww! _Deidara, you're such a sugar-sweetie-muffin-baby-cake! I love you, how cute!" Sasori said in a baby voice, snuggling up to Deidara, who shoved him away, trying not to die by trying not to laugh.

Or kill Sasori, whichever came first.

"You're not a brunette." Sasori commented, and Deidara rolled his eyes.

"Well, are _you _a red-headed punk?" he countered, and Sasori looked at him seriously.

"Of course I am. Didn't I tell you I went to the Rancid Bandage concert on Saturday?" he asked, and Deidara raised an eyebrow.

"_Rancid Bandage? _You were at _school _on Saturday!" he exclaimed, and Sasori shrugged, but smirked before looking at the next question.

"You've never puckered up in class? Geez, Deidara, what kind of man _are _you?" Sasori asked sarcastically, ducking the swipe that Deidara aimed at his head.

"And...you hate your ex-boyfriend. Okay. Your new official result is..." Sasori did a pretend drum-roll against the back of the seat in front of them before turning the page and re-calculating Deidara's score.

"You are... 85%!  
'_You have a huge sexual attraction to this guy, and your strong friendship will keep your relationship healthy for a long time! TALK TO HIM, because a romantic relationship could be right for you!' _He read, not even trying to disguise his satisfaction and smugness as he did.

"Well, Deidara? Are you gonna talk to me?" he asked flirtatiously, stuffing the quiz under the seat before leaning forward and raising his eyebrows at Deidara, who rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.

"Why should I talk to you? There's nothing to talk about, un." he said, although his cheeks were pink. Sasori laughed lightly, and tugged on Deidara's shirt playfully.

"There's _plenty _of stuff to talk about. Like your '_huge sexual attraction_' to me, for a start." he said, and Deidara grinned slightly at Sasori's arrogant and self-satisfied expression.

"Honestly, you need to deflate your super-ego sometime, or your big head will stop fitting through doorways. I have _no _sexual attraction to you. Or emotional. Or _anything, _un." he said, effectively closing the subject. Sasori sighed dramatically and assumed a melancholic pose by the window.

"Very mature." Deidara commented before remembering that he had closed the conversation. Sasori grinned and shoved him lightly. Deidara shoved back. Shove. Shove. Shove.

"Stop it, un!"

"You stop first." Shove. Shove.

"Seriously! _Stop_, un."

"Fine," Sasori said, shoving, and then leaned forward quickly just as Deidara shoved back. Catching his chin in his hand, Sasori kissed him, opening his mouth with his own, grinning slightly. Deidara was shocked, and stared at Sasori before pushing him away and rubbing his mouth.

"What was that for?" he demanded, glaring as he vigorously rubbed at his mouth.

"Do I need a reason?"

"Yes!"

"Okay, then. Because I love you."


	15. Foolish Pride

**Foolish Pride**

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Okay, as always, thank you so, so much to all the people who have reviewed, favourited, and subscribed to this story! I'm sorry I haven't updated this and I Love in a while, but I promise to do it more often now!

* * *

"Because...you love me?" Deidara repeated, staring.  
"You...love me, you _love _me! You...you..."  
Deidara scooted away from Sasori quickly, his eyes wider than you'd think would be possible, his lower lip quivering.  
Sasori leaned back against the window, and looked at Deidara.  
His expression was quite relaxed, the tilt of his mouth holding the same arrogant and flirtatious air as usual, but there was definitely a serious edge in his eyes.

"I love you," he repeated, taking Deidara's hand and pulling it towards him before brushing his lips across the knuckles of their intertwined fingers. Deidara stared at their hands before shaking his head several times. His lips were moving quickly, as though he was soundlessly muttering to himself.  
He glanced at Sasori again, almost accusingly, and then stood up and walked, a bit off-balance, to the bus driver.

Sasori watched him, expressionless, as he spoke to the driver, who stopped the bus. Deidara got off, stuffed his hands into his pockets, and began walking back in the direction they'd come. Sasori watched him go. Deidara glanced up at the window, saw Sasori looking at him, and looked away again.  
The bus driver revved the engine, tires skidding on the gravel road, and began to drive again. Sasori unconsciously brought his thumb up to his lips and slipped it into his mouth as he thought, assuming the fetal position as he so often did when he was alone.

His phone vibrated in his pocket. He let it sit for a minute before flipping it open. One new message from Deidara. He glanced out the window at the blur of trees before exhaling and absent-mindedly spinning his thumb over the OK button. He wasn't thinking. His heart was racing, his mind wouldn't settle, and the only thought in his head was 'Deidara.'  
Just one word.

He pressed the OK button and looked down at the screen.

Four words. 

_Get off the bus._

Sasori stood up and walked to the front of the bus.

"Can you drop me off here?" he asked the driver, who scowled at him.

"You should've gotten off with that chick! Honestly, I'm not a _taxi _driver, man!" he complained, and Sasori cracked a smile.

"Actually, he's a boy," he corrected the driver, who blinked then shook his head.

"Sorry, but it's really important." Sasori continued almost monotonously. He wasn't focusing on talking. His mind was racing, repeating those four words again and again and again in his head.

"Alright, alright. But after this, no more freebies." the driver sighed before pulling over and waving Sasori off. Sasori jumped off the last step, landed on the muddy path next to the road, and watched the bus drive off, raising a cloud of grey dust as it left. He looked up the road. Deidara was nowhere in sight. Not so surprising. Sasori took out his cell again, and created a new message.

_Why?_

He sent it to Deidara before starting to walk up the road to where Deidara had gotten off the bus. He received a reply a few seconds later.  
He read it quickly, almost hungrily; _Because. _

He rolled his eyes; Deidara was _so..._so...so _Deidara.  
_There was no explanation.  
He texted back quickly, and sent it. 

_You are such an impudent boy. 'Because' isn't a grammatically correct sentence, stupid! Where's the verb? The conjunction? Besides, that's a terrible reason. Give me one good reason, or better yet, two, and I'll get off the bus. _Deidara didn't need to know he was already off.  
A few seconds later, a reply.

_Stop being a grammar Natzi, freak. Get off the bus because 1: If you don't you'll be hit with terribly bad luck, and 2: I want you to get off. _Sasori smirked and replied, still walking towards the place where Deidara had gotten off the bus.

He replied quickly, _So rude, Deidara. You're such a spoiled brat. I'll have to teach you a lesson in manners soon. 1: I don't believe in bad luck, and 2: Why do you want me to get off? _He looked up, grinning as he saw Deidara up the road, facing the way and quite obviously facing away from him.  
A few seconds later, Sasori received another message.

He opened the phone, and read it; _You ask too many questions. Shut up and get off. _

Sasori walked quietly up to Deidara, texting back quickly, _I'll get off if you talk to me properly. No avoiding it this time. Better say yes, because I'm almost at the next city. _Sasori had improvised, yes, but he was pretty sure that there was a city about seven minutes away or so.  
Deidara opened his phone.  
Sasori grinned as he saw Deidara, now not ten feet away, shake his head and mutter something under his breath before replying. Sasori stepped closer, opening his phone the instant it vibrated, so Deidara wouldn't hear.

_Fine, you stupid liar. _Sasori grinned and put his phone into his back pocket. He stepped forward again before reaching out and wrapping his arms around Deidara's shoulders, while he jumped in shock.

"So? Talk to me." he murmured against Deidara's cheek. Deidara struggled to turn around, and when he did, Sasori kissed him on the mouth. Deidara freed himself from Sasori's grasp, and glared at him.

"Stop doing that! I'll get angry, un. Plus you scared the shit out of me! Weren't you on the bus!" he demanded, and Sasori grinned, laughing slightly at Deidara's exasperated expression.

"No. I got off when you sent your first text." he replied, and Deidara gave him a filthy look before shoving him away. Sasori's smile widened when he saw Deidara start to laugh as he turned away.

"You are such an ass, you know that?" he asked, and Sasori nodded.

"Yes. But I'm an ass who's in love with you, so you'd better get used to it."

"I'm not Queen Titania, for crying out loud! I don't _need _an ass in love with... wait. No, that's what I wanted to talk about, un." Deidara turned back around and looked at Sasori seriously. And then he looked around. "But not here." he added as an afterthought.

"Yes here," Sasori objected, taking Deidara's wrist and pulling down as he sat down on the grass. Deidara sat down in front of him, frowning.

"So. Talk." Sasori instructed, crossing his arms. Deidara rolled his eyes and scowled. Sasori smirked; Deidara reminded him of a sassy teenager at times. Probably because that's exactly what he is.

"Fine, fine. I just wanted to say that I think you're stupid, un."

"What?"  
Deidara stuck his tongue out. "Just kidding. I don't think you're stupid. I think you're annoying."

"You think _I'm _annoying? Try having a conversation with yourself some time!" Sasori retorted. Deidara laughed.

"It could never be more annoying that trying to win an argument with _you_! Remember when you insisted that the _sun _would come down and _burn_ me if I didn't agree with you?"

"Yeah, but that was totally fine, considering that _you _were trying to say that cucumbers are fruit!"

"They have _seeds_!" Deidara insisted angrily, and Sasori burst out laughing.

"Jeez, I'm in love with a dork..." he muttered, grinning as he looked down at his feet. Deidara shoved him.

"Don't say that, un." he said, glancing away, his cheeks flushed. Sasori raised his eyes.

"Why not?" he asked, and Deidara scowled, still not meeting his gaze.

"Because." Sasori rolled his eyes and let out a weight-of-the-world sigh.

"_Again, _'because', 'because'. Because _why_? When somebody asks you 'Why', you have to give a proper answer, dummy!" Sasori explained, exasperated. Deidara flicked his gaze over to Sasori's face quickly. He looked like he was about to laugh. He did.

"You're such an old man!" he snorted, and Sasori raised himself up to his full sitting height, and shot Deidara a mock-contemptuous look.

"I'll have you know I'm, like, seven months and three days younger than you." he pointed out.  
Deidara grinned.

"Oh, right, I forgot you're younger than me. How creepy, I'm being pursued by a guy with a fetish for older men, un." Deidara teased. Sasori shoved him.

"God, you can be stupid. But you're avoiding the question! _Why _don't you want me to say I love you? Are you allergic to the truth or something?" he demanded. Deidara looked away again.

"Gimme a lollipop." he said. Sasori blinked.

"What happened to 'please'?"

"It ran away with 'thank you' and 'how are you', leaving 'shut your face and Gimme' to tend to the house." he snapped, holding out his hand.  
Sasori sighed, dug in his pocket, and pressed a cherry-flavoured sucker into Deidara's tattooed palm. Deidara, still not looking directly at Sasori, unwrapped it and shoved it in his mouth.

"When did you start to like those?" Sasori asked curiously. Deidara blushed and snapped that he'd always liked them. Sasori grinned and lay back in the grass as a lone truck roared by.

"Hurry up. Talk to me. It's going to rain." he said, looking up at the grey sky. Deidara crawled over to him and crossed his arms.

"I'm tired." he commented.

"So lie down." Sasori replied. Deidara fidgeted.

"No...you're on the only nice patch of grass. There are...you know, sticks and stuff...and...whatever else." he complained, glancing around. Sasori rolled his eyes.

"You're such a sissy. Fine, you can lie on me."

"Excuse me?" Deidara asked, but he leaned on Sasori's chest anyways, facing away. Sasori wrapped an arm loosely around Deidara's chest.

"So. Why?" Sasori asked into the silence that had befallen them briefly. Deidara sighed.

"Why what?" Sasori felt a drop of rain hit his nose.

"Why did you want me to get off the bus? Why don't you want me to say I love you? And you're supposed to talk to me." he said, and Deidara rolled over, burying his face in Sasori's chest and rubbing his nose on his shirt. "

Stop it." Sasori instructed, but Deidara didn't stop. Sasori tugged his hair.

"That tickles, stop it!" he said, a smile tugging at his lips.  
Deidara just grinned. He stopped rubbing his nose, but he kept his face pressed into Sasori's shirt.

"What, do I smell good or something?" Sasori joked. _Yes, _Deidara thought privately, but he didn't reply.

"Fine." he said at last.

"Fine what?"

"Fine I'll tell you, un."

"Okay. So tell me." Deidara sighed.

"I wanted to get you off the bus because I felt bad for leaving you on it, un."

"That's it?"

"...and I wanted you here with me." Sasori glanced down at the mess of blonde hair resting on two crossed, tanned arms on his stomach.

"You've gotten soft," he commented, unable to keep the smug happiness out of his voice just as much as he was unable to resist giving Deidara another jab in the nerves.  
Deidara predictably flipped him the bird as he continued.

"...No, I just mean that I wanted you...here...with me...because you're interesting. And I'd've gotten bored by myself." he finished.  
Sasori felt another couple raindrops.

"It's raining," he commented. Deidara snorted, and Sasori bit his lip to hold back laughter; it really tickled.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious, un. Once again you've saved the day from even one degree of confusion." he said sarcastically.

"I only live to help people." Sasori said dramatically, making Deidara laugh.

"Okay. Why do you not want me to say that I love you?" Sasori asked when he was done, and Deidara buried his face further into Sasori's shirt.

"What are you trying to find in there? Because I can assure you that any flecks of gold will have come out in the wash." Sasori quipped. Deidara raised his head a fraction to shoot Sasori a glare, and then he replied.

"Because I don't understand it, un. And it freaks me out." Sasori looked back up at the sky, curious, as it began to rain a little harder.

"What don't you understand? I'm sure you understand love, or you wouldn't like _Dirty Dancing_." he asked, and Deidara sat up, still resting his arms on Sasori's stomach.

He looked down, tracing circles on Sasori's black shirt as he replied, "I don't understand how you can, un. I don't understand why you would. I just don't understand you." he said, looking at Sasori with a rather lonely look on his face. Sasori sighed and returned his gaze to the clouds, which were now happily emptying themselves of water over the valley.

"I can love you..." he began before frowning. "That's a hard thing to explain, Deidara. 'How' I can love you.

"I mean," Deidara interrupted, taking the lollipop out of his mouth to speak easier, "I don't understand how. Like...You met me in...what, the third week of September? Now it's like...the start of the second week of November. I don't understand..._how _you could _possibly..._oh, nevermind..." he muttered, looking away.

Sasori sat up, causing Deidara to sit up as well. Sasori was frowning as he pulled Deidara towards him in a tight hug. Deidara sighed, wrapping his arms tightly around Sasori, closing his eyes.  
He knew that he shouldn't, but he _really _needed a hug. Sasori was rubbing his back slowly, his chin resting on Deidara's shoulder.

"I could give you some sappy list of all the ways I love you, or an explanation of how I saw you across the room and I 'just knew', or even some clichéd speech about how 'you are my world' or something, but I won't."  
Sasori began, his voice strangely loud in the odd silence of the rain, "I'm just going to say that I have never, ever loved anyone as much as I love you. So I'm not giving up, Deidara," he said, pulling Deidara even closer, were that possible.

"I never will." he finished.

There was a long silence after he had said his last word.

Deidara hoped to God and back that Sasori didn't know he was crying.

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Okay, I hope you liked it! I know it doesn't really get anywhere with the plot, but...oh well. A little more character development, perhaps... you know, Deidara's insecurity problem... anyways, hope you liked it, and please review!


	16. Upside Down

**Upside Down**

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Hi! I know I should be updating I Love (which I will do shortly, I swear!), but the next chapter for that is taking a long time... just because I keep having to re-write and revise it, _over and over again, _because it's a pretty important chapter, and I want it to be just right! Well, anyways, you guys might not like this chapter...but it's important, so... yeah.

Also, something exciting happened! **Becky-san **(who reads this story and I Love) i**s going to translate this into Portuguese**! That made me super happy, it's so cool! So once again, thank you to her :)

**I don't own Naruto, bla bla bla...let's get on with it;**

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"Where's the next bus stop?"

"How should I know. I never take the bus."

"You're useless."

"You suck, un."

"No, I blow."

"...you disgust me."

"Aww! Deidara, don't leave me!"

"PUT ME DOWN, FOOL!"

Sasori laughed and ignored Deidara, carrying him bridal style for as long as he could until the blonde boy struggled out of his grip and fell onto his butt on the grass.

"Ow! Asshole, that hurt!" Deidara complained angrily, and punched Sasori in the shin before standing up.

"You're so mean to me..." Sasori groaned, half-dramatically as he rubbed his shin, scowling. Deidara laughed and started walking again, his hands in his pockets. He felt his phone, and flipped it open, checking his inbox.

Pain had replied to his text; _He said he loved you, huh? Not like I didn't see that coming. Well, don't ask ME what to do, he's YOUR problem, isn't he? Well, you like him, don't you? So do something! Talk about...cheese, or whatever the hell you want to! Oh, and Tsunade's pissed at you. Have you handed ANYTHING in this year! Oh, Itachi and Sasuke had another sexy fight, btw. See ya soon, loser._

Deidara scowled and shut his phone; typical Pain. Avoid the question and give over a load of useless information.

"Cheese..." Deidara muttered before snorting. Behind him, Sasori was checking his phone. He wiped raindrops off of the screen before clicking 'inbox' and selecting new messages.

One from Pain.

Sasori smirked as he realized it must be Pain's reply to his recent text. _Hey, so you finally did it! How cute, my baby is growing up~ haha, no. So...he cried, huh? Well, that's okay. That could be a step forwards! Or he could be crying because you took his confession virginity, or something.  
It's raining, huh?  
Well, you've got another day, or something. Take him to a hotspring. That's Itachi's opinion. I think he likes them, or something, he's always going...  
You'd better hurry up, by the way, Tsunade's pissed. Or maybe she's just constipated. Anyway, I'm paying for this long text, so be grateful that I'm donating time and money to your cause! Go Sasori! Also, it's boring without you. Come back, loser. _

Sasori shut his phone and smirked; Pain _always _sent unnecessarily long text messages. Sasori looked up at the cloudy sky as rain fell on his face, and smiled. He looked at the back of Deidara's hair, noticing for the first time the nice brown colour Deidara's hair was when it was wet. He zoned out.

Deidara noticed Sasori hadn't spoken in a while. He glanced around. Sasori was staring blankly off into the distance.

Deidara frowned and stopped, waiting for him, then fell into step with him, glaring at him as he continued to stare into the middle-distance.

"Hey." Silence.

"You there." Silence, except for rain.

"Sasori." A car roared past, splashing through a puddle on the other side of the road.

"Earth to Sasori, un." Deidara waved a hand in front of the redhead's face. He scowled and shoved his hands in his pockets. He bumped into Sasori casually, but Sasori continued to zone out.

After five minutes of poking, prodding, flicking, insulting, and shoving, Deidara gave up and took out his phone again, bored. Then he got an idea, and smirked, giving the side of Sasori's head a playful glance. His eyes travelled down to Sasori's pants, for the completely innocent reason of checking that his phone was sticking out.

Carefully, Deidara slid it out of his pocket, and flipped it open. The background picture alone made Deidara shove a fist into his mouth to stop himself from yelling in shock; it was a photo of him sleeping.

_That damn perv..._Deidara thought, grinding his teeth as he firmly pressed the buttons and deleted the photo, changing the background picture to an innocent one of a cartoon dog.

Then he went to 'Ringtones', and 'Select ringtone'. After a bit of fiddling, he returned Sasori's phone into his pocket, still careful to make sure that Sasori wouldn't notice. Deidara grinned wickedly, feeling more awake than he had in a while.

He was laughing to himself, biting his lip to stop himself from making a lot of noise as he brought out his own phone and texted Sasori.

Sasori blinked. His phone was buzzing.  
And playing music.  
He paused, and listened for a few seconds, confused.

'_...Some balls are held for charity and some for fancy dress, but when they're held for pleasure, they're the balls that I like best. My balls are always bouncing to the left and to the right.. It's my belief that my big balls should be held every night. We've got big balls! We've got big balls! He's got big balls, and she's got big balls, but WE'VE GOT THE BIGGEST BALLS OF THEM ALL!' _

Sasori turned to stare at Deidara. Who was looking as though he'd just stolen a cookie from the cookie jar...and was certain that nobody knew it was him. Sasori smirked and shook his head before opening his phone.  
A new text from Deidara, surprise, surprise.

'_Stop zoning out, moron, and pay attention to me!' _Sasori grinned and put his phone back into his pocket before swinging an arm around Deidara and pulling him closer.

"What?" Deidara asked, and Sasori had to bite back a laugh; Deidara's tone made it glaringly obvious that he was trying not to laugh as well.

"You're an attention whore, y'know?" Sasori whispered in his ear. Deidara scoffed.

"No! I am so not, you...you stupid liar, un! You don't know what you're talking about." Deidara said, trying and failing to remove Sasori's arm from around his shoulders. Sasori snickered and kissed Deidara's cheek, earning him a sharp jab to the ribs.

"You're such a kid. A spoiled brat who always wants attention." he said with a smile. Deidara rolled his eyes and looked at the muddy ground, wondering why he was hyper-aware of everywhere Sasori's body was touching his.

"Well, you're a spoiled asshole who always wants to win arguments and gets mad if he doesn't get what he wants, when he wants it, un." Deidara retorted, glancing at Sasori, whose face crumpled into a huge grin.

"That's right. And I want _you, _right now." he said once he'd gotten control again. He stopped and swung Deidara around to face him.

"Don't be stupid, un." Deidara said, in spite of being aware, and slightly ashamed, of the fact that no matter what, he couldn't look away from Sasori's heavily-lidded, dreamy eyes.

"I'm not being stupid. Or maybe I am, for falling in love with such a messed-up, bratty pyromaniac." Sasori said thoughtfully as he smirked and tilted Deidara's chin up with a cool finger.

"Shut up. And you're not in love with me, un." Deidara snapped, forcing his gaze away and frowning. Sasori stepped closer, and put both hands in Deidara's back pockets. Deidara jumped a foot and stared at Sasori, too shocked to protest before Sasori spoke.

"How do you know that?" he murmured, leaning close so his lips were right by Deidara's ear, "How do you know I'm not in love with you if you've never been in love? You can't. You can't know how much I love you."  
Sasori finished, pulling back. Deidara, now blushing badly, glanced at Sasori's eyes and cracked a grin, surprising both of them.

"So tell me. Tell me how much you 'love' me. I like listening to people talk, un." Sasori laughed and pulled his left hand out of Deidara's back pocket so they could walk.

"Could you remove the other one?" Deidara asked in a clipped tone, but Sasori didn't move it until Deidara bit his shoulder.

"You're disgusting. But I love you." Sasori said, grinning, and Deidara rolled his eyes. "Hurry up, tell me how much you 'love' me, un. I'm getting bored." he said, shoving his hands into his back pockets, as a kind of protection against Sasori doing it.

"No, I'll tell you later." Sasori said with a huge yawn. Deidara smacked his arm.

"You love to be a let down, don't you?" he asked sulkily.

"Yep. Now, if you were going to give me a mix cd, which five songs would you put on it for me?" Sasori asked, linking his arms behind his head and yawning again. Deidara yawned, too, and rolled his eyes.

"You always come up with the stupidest questions."

"They match your answers."

"I hate you, un."

"I love you."

"Shut it."

"Answer my question, or I'll keep telling you how much I _loooooooove_ you..."

"Fine, anything but that... Okay..'Shut up and let me go', the TingTings, un. 'I'm not in love', 10 cc. 'Pumpkin soup', Kate Nash...uh... 'Toxic' by...those guys who covered Britney Spears... and...uh, last one...'Mercy', Duffy." he finished, and Sasori raised his eyebrows.

"You know a lot of music, don't you?" he asked after a while. Deidara glanced at him.

"It's glaringly obvious you're sulking about something, you know." he commented, but when Sasori didn't say anything, he answered the question.

"I guess so. I like eighties music, so...I go on Youtube a lot, and then...yeah." he said, well aware of the excruciatingly awkward atmosphere.

"Oh look, a bus stop!" he said, pointing at the sign about two hundred metres away.

"Great..." Sasori mumbled, and Deidara scowled. He stopped and grabbed Sasori by the shoulders, swinging him around to face him.

"Hey! What's the matter with you, huh? Did a squirrel steal your nuts or something? Snap out of it, you're being boring!" Deidara said angrily. A grin ghosted over Sasori's mouth at the mention of squirrels and nuts, but he just sighed.

"It's nothing." he said, and Deidara snorted, glaring at his friend.

"Like hell it is! I hate it when you do this, you just shut yourself away and sigh like a leaking balloon, un! And I _know _you do it! You don't do it a lot, but it pisses me off to hell when you do! Just tell me what it is, do you have a problem or something?" he demanded, amazed that he was so hot-blooded even after walking in the rain for so long.

Sasori sighed again, then looked at Deidara with an unfamiliar expression on his face. It was almost reluctance, but then it was gone, replaced by anger.

"Yeah, I got a problem! I'm sure anybody would if they were in love with _you! _I swear, you've gotta be the worst person out there to fall in love with, Deidara. Sure, I'll get it if you don't love me back, not like I expected an antipathetic guy like you to even _consider _my feelings, but whatever.  
...But what seriously pisses me off, is even now that you _know _that I love you, you still go and deliberately slam me down every chance you get. Like now. Songs on a cd for me. You could have picked some random ones like...I don't know..._Jane Fonda_. Whatever. But no, you pick five of the most well-known songs for basically saying that you will _never _fall in love with me, are _disgusted _by the idea, and are completely _abhorrent _of my attitude and everything.  
...Not only that, but earlier, you're demanding I tell you how much I love you, even though it's painfully clear that no matter what I say you're just gonna shoot me down and say 'ew, get away from me you perv'? I don't even... I don't even get how you can _do _that to a person. Stand there like a bratty kid while they spill out their feelings in a way to try and make you understand that they _fucking LOVE you, _with an expression on your face like you're impatient, you're bored, not giving a shit about their feelings or anything except yourself. So yeah, I'm pissed." Sasori finished.

Deidara had been staring at him the whole time, amazed at how much anger was in his voice and expression even though his eyes were just as dreamy as they usually were.

"Well of _course _I'd do that," Deidara shot back, just as angrily. "Of course I would! You just go out there and force some kind of confession on me -what are you, a schoolgirl demanding I accept your feelings!- and expect me to reciprocate!  
You didn't even consider how I feel! And if I ever _did _like you, I could _never _like you more, now! You just freak me out, going all 'I _looooove _you, I _looooove _you', like some kind of freak?  
There's no way in hell I'd ever say yes to you if you just go out there and force it on me! And you have _no _right to get pissed off about the music! If you even _knew _the songs-"

"Oh, right, so now you're telling me there's _more _in them than just 'get away from me you creepy stalker'? Don't make me laugh." Sasori interrupted derisively.

Deidara shoved him away. It was almost refreshing, being angry.

"Well, if you think that's all there is in the songs, it damn well serves you right, un! What's with you, like, the first day of school you _pin me to a wall! _And then, what, four weeks later, if that, you're saying you _love _me! After everything that you've done to me, and everything you've put me through on your 'Quest to get me to like you', you seriously think that I could _ever _love you? Did you honestly think that I would _ever _be with you?" Deidara demanded, staring Sasori right in the face.

He didn't speak, but he lowered his gaze as he stuffed his hands in his back pockets.

"No. But I'm glad we had this fight. Now I know I was _so _wrong to _ever _think you were perfect. Because you're just as much of an arrogant, assuming, stuck-up _asshole_ as me." he spat before turning around and walking back the way they'd come.

"Yeah, well...By the way, I broke your lamp! And I'm not sorry!" Deidara yelled after him, and Sasori flipped him the bird, continuing walking.

Deidara turned around, shooting a deathglare into the ground as he walked to the bus stop. Hell if he cared when or how Sasori was getting back to the school. He could _die_, if he wanted to.

Ten minutes later, the bus came. Deidara walked up, dumped some change in the driver's hand, and went to the back of the bus. The bus was quite full, since it was raining, and Deidara ended up squished next to a short, old woman who smelled of dirt and a middle-aged man who was yelling at his wife on the phone. Deidara took out his phone and texted Pain. _Coming home. Don't talk about Sasori. _He shut his phone and glanced out the window.

He didn't realize he was crying for about two more bus stops.

* * *

Whew, there we go! Yes, their first major fight! Can they ever recover? Where is SAsori going? Will they ever make up? Will Sasori ever get a new lamp! _Oh the HUMANITY!_

So, I highly doubt that anybody ever reads these little blurbs at the end (sometimes I don't even read them...), but if you are, here's an Easter egg!

All the ways I have frequently misspelled Sasori's name when I'm typing fast (I think I always fix them, but they're still annoying):

**Sasoir_. _**That one happens like...every third time I write Sasoir. Sasori, I mean.

**Sasory. **Admittedly, I've only done that once. But it was still really embarassing.

**SAsori. **That one's really annoying.

**SAsoir. **That one is two in one!

Okay, that's it, for now! Review, please! :D


	17. You Are perfect

**You Are (perfect)**

* * *

Okay, so despite this chapter being a little longer than usual, this is a fairly quick update...and I SWEAR that I Love will be updated next week. Argh, I'm getting behind on that one... sigh... So, thank you to everybody who reviewed the last chapter! 99% of you were upset that they had a fight, and I was, too, but I felt that honestly...Sasori needed to speak up because Deidara was totally... you know... taking his love for granted and stuff. Anyways, here's the next chapter. I used a lot of music in this... actually, I use a lot of music in all of my stories... mostly because I love music. But honestly, there is a _lot _of music in this chapter. So. I don't own any of it, and I don't own Naruto.

* * *

There was a knock on the door. Pain glanced up. He had forgotten he'd taken to locking the door after Hidan and Kakuzu burst in, drunk, in the middle of the night, thinking it was their room. He got up off his bed and opened it.

"Deidara...hey..." he said, tactfully not asking any questions just yet. Deidara glanced up at him before walking in.

"Hey," he said glumly before flopping down on Sasori's bed. He was only on it for about a second before he cursed himself and clambered up to his own bed.

"So...you look...wet." Pain commented, raising an eyebrow at Deidara's bedraggled appearance before going back down to his bed and picking up his latest copy of Soul Eater.

"I know. It was raining, un." Deidara's voice was heavily muffled by his pillow. Pain yawned and rolled over, opening his book again to the page where Soul's getting hit in the balls by a stick-wielding baby witch. He didn't read, though. He was listening to a funny whining sound.

"...I hate to ask...but are you crying?" he asked before bracing himself just in time as a pillow hit him full-force on the back of the head.

"I am not." Deidara said, sniffing. "I am merely... uh..."

"You've got something in your eye?" Pain supplied, earning himself a panda to the head.

"_No_. I just had a minor attack of...hives. So, if you don't mind, I'm going to...recover, un." Deidara continued in the most unconvincing manner possible before rolling over. The whining continued. Pain raised his eyes to the ceiling before hauling himself off of his bed and strolling over to lean against the bunkbed.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked, well aware that he might be earning himself another blow with a stuffed projectile. Deidara was silent for a few minutes.

"No."

"Okay, then..." Pain said, walking towards the door.

"Wait, don't go..." Deidara protested into his pillow. Pain stopped and turned around, a small smile on his pale face.

"Well?" he said, and Deidara sniffed loudly.

"I suppose it couldn't hurt to talk..." he said finally, and Pain grinned, clambering up onto Deidara's bunk and hauling him out of his blankets.

"Okay, then. Let's talk." Pain said, and Deidara rubbed his eyes.

* * *

_Where are you? _

Sasori looked away from his phone's screen in annoyance before replying.

_Pain, stop texting me. I'm just staying with my parents for a little while. Tell Tsunade my dog died, or something. How's Deidara (don't you dare tell him I asked)_

"Sasori, honey, don't you want dinner?" Sasori looked up. His mom was in the doorway to his room, leaning against the doorframe.

"No, that's okay, I'm not hungry right now." he replied, rolling over on his bed.

"Okay..." she said dubiously, and left. Sasori listened as she walked down the stairs, returning to the TV in the kitchen. He glanced at his dresser, which was covered in dust and old blueprints for puppets. The photo of his real mother and father holding him as a baby smiled back, completely clean of dust.

Sasori closed his eyes and thought, for about the millionth time, that his adoptive parents look nothing like his real ones. His 'new' mother has blonde hair, not brown. His 'new' dad has grey hair, not red. Sasori opened his eyes and looked back at the dresser.

Next to the photo of his parents was a smaller one, dusty, of his grandmother.

_That old hag..._Sasori thought, slightly fondly, as he took in the sack of wrinkles that was his granny. She hadn't been happy about putting him up for adoption, either, but by the time he was born, her arthritis was so bad that there was just no way that she could care for a little boy, and she didn't have the money for a baby sitter. So adoption it was.

Sasori's attention returned to where it had been resting for the past week at the sound of _Big Balls. _He had seriously considered changing the ringtone, but hadn't managed to. He flipped open his phone again and glanced at it.

_2 new messages: Pain _He selected the first one, and read it.

_Told Tsunade, she says she wants a note from your parents. Good luck with that one. _Next. _Deidara...well, what do you expect me to say? _Sasori rolled his eyes and replied quickly.

_Does he look sad, or what? Has he talked to you? I don't know, just don't bs me, okay? _Sasori barely had time to yawn before he got a reply.

_He was crying before. He talked to me the day he came back, but only a little. Now, he's talking to __me...and just told me not to tell you anything. But, he's not happy. How's that? _Sasori's mouth tilted up slightly.

_That's good. _He replied and shut his phone. But just as he did, he got another text. He opened it, and frowned when he saw that it was from Deidara.

He didn't select 'Read message' for ten minutes, worried about what he might find, and reluctant to see.

Finally, he pressed OK, and closed his eyes for a moment before reading; _Pain wants you to come back, but don't come back until you listen to those songs. Properly. Also, Pain fixed your lamp. I think it looks better broken. _

Sasori re-read the text about twenty times in ten seconds, before he shut his phone and sat up, bracing himself for a moment as the blood rushed back into his head, leaving him dizzy. He stood up and swayed towards his door. He got his balance back and shut it before sitting down heavily on his chair.

A cloud of dust flew up from under him, and he cringed, hoping his mother wouldn't find his dusty pants until after he'd left. He blew dust off of his computor monitor, and pressed the ON button.

Ten minutes later, he was on Youtube, looking up the lyrics to _Shut up and let me go, I'm not in love, Pumpkin soup, Toxic_, and _Mercy._

As the Tingtings began playing through his old speakers, Sasori glared up at the ceiling, seriously not understanding why Deidara wanted him to listen to them, unless he was vindictive enough to want him to feel _worse _than he already did.

_Shut up and let me go/ This hurts I tell you so..._

It wasn't until more than half-way through the song hat Sasori raised his eyebrows and glanced back at the screen, to double-check what he'd heard;

_For fear of living in regret/ I've changed since from when we first met._

Sasori frowned, listened to it again, then went to the next song.

_Pumpkin Soup _was full of little messages, most of them revolving around some chick who seriously wants to kiss somebody without having a relationship, but once again, around half-way through, Sasori replayed a little bit, listening carefully:

_This paranoia is distressing/ But I spend most of my night guessing/ Are we not, are we together?/ Will this make our lives much better? _

_...Now I messed up, it's not the first time/ I'm not saying you're not on my mind/ I hope you don't think I'm unkind..._

Sasori typed in the next song, thinking that maybe...just maybe, Deidara hadn't picked these songs for they're obvious messages. Maybe he'd been...wrong..? The next one was Toxic, and Sasori grinned slightly, _sure _that he wouldn't find anything nice in this one, but he played it anyways.  
To his surprise, as he listened, he could easily imagine Deidara feeling this way about him...especially as he remembered Deidara's sketchbook at his house, covered with lyrics including, _Tides that I tried to swim against. _Sasori replayed _Toxic _three times.

_A guy like you/ Should wear a warning/ It's dangerous, I'm falling_

_Too high, can't come down/ Losing my head, spinning round and round..._

_It's getting late/ to give you up/ I took a sip from my devil's cup/ Slowly, it's taking over me..._

"Sasori, are you sure you don't want dinner?" "I'm fine, mom, I'll come down later!" Sasori called down the stairs before clicking PLAY on _Mercy, _the last one.

_I don't know what this is, but you got me good/ Just like you knew you would/ I don't know what you do, but you do it well/ I'm under your spell/ I'm begging you for mercy..._

Sasori switched off his computer and leaned back in his chair.

_Could Deidara have actually...no. _Sasori shook his head and stood up, brushing dust off his ass before flopping back down onto his bed. _Deidara is many things, but he's not subtle. He probably just wanted to prove a point, _Sasori thought before opening his phone again.

Deidara had texted him again.

_Which corner of the earth are you sulking in? _

Sasori sighed and replied. _Why do you want to know?_

A few minutes later, Deidara replied.

_What is it with you, you're always asking 'WHY'. Jeez, just TELL me and I'll tell you why later, okay? _

Sasori snorted and replied, _Fine, my house. Pain knows where. Don't send a bomb, we have dogs. _He switched off his phone and went downstairs to grab some pizza.

* * *

Deidara shut his phone and stood up.

"Where you goin'?" Kisame asked cheerfully, leaning back. Deidara stepped over the bench, away from the lunch table.

"Out. I'm going out, and you can tell Tsuna-boobs that I'll be back in a day. I have...a dog's funeral to go to, un." he improvised. Kisame laughed.

"You know, you're lucky your extra-credit projects were so great, or you'd be outta here." he said, giving Deidara a sharp-toothed grin and a wave as the blondie walked purposefully out of the lunch hall.

"Where the fuck's he going?" Hidan asked, putting his full tray down and sitting where Deidara was. Kisame raised his eyebrows at Pain, who smiled.

"I think he's going to talk to his loverboy." he said, grinning before sipping his chocolate milk.

"Loverboy?" Itachi asked, resting his chin on his hand, his gaze vaguely focused on his younger brother across the room. "Do you really think he likes Sasori in that way?" he asked, and Pain winked.

"I think he likes him in _every _way." he replied, and Itachi smiled slightly.

* * *

A four hour bus ride later, plus a twenty-minute walk in the rain, Deidara was standing outside the door of No 9, Crescent Drive.  
The door itself was dark green with peeling paint, identical to all the other doors in the small apartment. He raised a fist and -after about five minutes of standing there, frozen, panicking- knocked. After a few minutes, a blonde woman who looked unnaturally skinny for her age opened the door.

"Yes?" she asked. Deidara didn't mean to, but he immediately disliked her; she reminded him of his own mother.

"Um, hi... is Sasori here?"

"Yes, he's here. Are you a friend?" she asked as an older man with grey hair and a beerbelly walked past behind her, a bag of popcorn in his hand. Deidara scuffed his foot on the tatty blue carpet of the hallway.

"Ah...yes, I go to his school, un. Can I...talk to him?" he asked, almost hoping that Sasori wouldn't be there after all, and he could just go back and pretend that this most humiliating and ego-trampling moment of his life had never happened. The blonde woman smiled in a way that showed all of her teeth, and nodded.

"Yup, of course!" she turned around and trilled over her shoulder, "Sasoriiiiiii! Your friend is here!" She turned back around and beamed at Deidara, who felt he didn't really deserve such a smile from this woman after kind of trampling on her son's heart. A few seconds later, Deidara jumped when he heard Sasori's voice.

"Who is it?" he asked, and his mother looked expectantly at Deidara. He cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Uh...tell him it's Baby." he said. Just for fun. His mother did a double take, and smiled again.

"It's Baby, hun!" she called. A few footsteps later, Sasori appeared next to his mother. He looked at Deidara, not exactly in surprise, just... as though he was unexpectedly early for some unplanned meeting. Deidara didn't look at him for very long, preferring to examine the fake plant by the door. Sasori's mother could clearly _not _read the tension in the atmosphere, and simpered.

"Baby, would you like to come in? There's some leftover dinner-"

"No." Sasori said quickly, and his mother blinked in surprise.

"What? Why not?" she asked. Deidara didn't really like to think ill of strangers, but Sasori's mother seemed like a serious airhead. Sasori glanced at her, and there was a flicker of contempt in his gaze, but it was quickly suppressed and replaced with an assuring smile.

"We're just going to talk, and it's nice outside." he said, pulling on a pair of boots and stepping out. His mother put her hands on her narrow hips.

"It is _not! _It's pouring with rain, you'll get soaked to the bone!" she said before shoving an umbrella at Sasori. "Take it. And if I find out the two of you have been...injecting heroin into your...your tongues, or fornicating, or...or whatever, you'll be... you'll be so grounded!" she said, and Sasori disguised a snort of laughter as a cough.

"Right, okay. Bye, Mum." he said, and closed the door behind him. Deidara didn't move. Sasori leaned against the wall and tapped the umbrella on his boots.

"Baby, huh?" he asked quietly, and Deidara scuffed his shoe on the carpet again. "Yes..." he said lamely, and Sasori fell back into silence, his small smile disappearing.

"So. What are you doing here?" he asked finally, and Deidara flinched slightly. He was so used to Sasori's dreamy, light, I'm-stoned-but-I'm-actually-not voice, that the sharp coldness in his tone shocked him. He told himself firmly to get a grip, and looked up, meeting Sasori's gaze steadily.

"I'm standing here, un. What are _you_ doing here? You're supposed to be in school." he countered. Sasori's lips twitched slightly, and then he was calm.

"You're such a hypocrite. You skip all the time. I came to visit my parents." he said. Deidara rubbed his face in annoyance; this wasn't going how he'd imagined.  
They were fighting again, almost.

He heard Sasori step closer, and stroke his hair gently. Deidara opened his eyes, wondering why he was even bothering to feel hopeful. Sasori was looking at him sadly, but he had the tiniest hint of a smile on his face.

"What did you expect, Deidara? That if you came here, I'd just go back with you, and it would all be how it was before?" he asked softly, and Deidara looked at him with a hard gaze.

"No, I didn't think that, un." he said flatly, before taking Sasori by the wrist and pulling him into the elevator after himself. He pressed ground floor.

"Where are we going?" Sasori asked, but Deidara didn't answer. When they reached the bottom, Deidara pulled Sasori out behind him and walked out into the rain, walking in silence until he reached the nearby Sears department store. Ignoring Sasori's frequent questions, he led the way up the escalator, and out onto the rooftop parking lot.

There were only eight cars there, and he sat down against the concrete wall at the edge of the lot. Sasori followed slowly, putting up the umbrella, and he sat down next to Deidara. It was silent except for the rain for a while, until Deidara muttered that his ass was wet.

"Well, yeah. You sat in a puddle, stupid." Sasori said with a grin. Deidara snorted and rolled his eyes.

"I didn't think it would be the same." Deidara said finally, after another silence.

"What?" Sasori asked, his eyes closed, his head resting quasi-comfortably against the cement barrier.

"This. Us. Whatever we are. I didn't think it would be the same, even if I came and apologized, un." Sasori cracked an eye open, and looked at Deidara, whose head was resting on his knees.

"You haven't apologized yet." Sasori pointed out, and Deidara nodded.

"I know. Because I..." he paused, and raised his head just enough to check Sasori's expression, then returned it to his knees.

"Look at me, Deidara." Sasori said with a sigh, pulling his shoulders back when he didn't move.

"Because I always...I'm bad at apologizing, un." Deidara finished, and Sasori grinned slightly, but didn't say anything. "So," Deidara continued with a deep breath, "just...listen." he said, and put an earphone in Sasori's ear. Looking slightly flustered, Deidara took his ipod out of his pocket and turned it on, blinking as the tiny screen lit up brightly.

"Don't say anything until I say I'm done," he warned Sasori, who nodded, still trying hard not to smile. A couple seconds later, Deidara pressed play, and glanced at Sasori as the first song began.

_I may not always love you,  
But long as there are stars above you,  
You'll never need to doubt it,  
I'll make you so sure about it._

_God only knows what I'd be without you._

_If you should ever leave me,  
Well life would still go on, believe me,  
The world could show nothing to me,  
So what good would living do me?_

_God only knows what I'd be without you... _

Deidara, a bit pink in the face under Sasori's gaze, quickly clicked next, avoiding looking at Sasori.

_She got the brains -she got the looks  
She knows all the right people -reads all the right books.  
She's got my name -She's got my number.  
But what she sees in me I, sometimes wonder._

_She's a little too good for me,  
She's gonna change me if I let her.  
She's a little too good for me, _

_But I'm getting better..._

Skip. Sasori was still gazing at Deidara as he listened to the songs that Deidara had obviously chosen carefully, still feeling the amazement and happiness as he secretly had when he'd seen Deidara standing outside his front door.

This time, Deidara skipped to halfway through the song before pressing play.

_I'm open, you're closed.  
Where I'll follow, you'll go.  
I worry I won't see your face  
Light up again._

_Even the best fall down sometimes  
Even the wrong words seem to rhyme.  
Out of the doubt that fills my mind,  
I somehow find  
You and I collide._

_I'm quiet you know  
You make a first impression.  
I find I'm scared to know I'm always on your mind._

"Last one..." Deidara murmured, keeping his gaze fixed on his shoes as the next song began.  
Sasori closed his eyes and listened as the echoing piano played quietly, just loud enough to be heard over the rain. As the singing began finally, he smiled and recognized the lyrics that were scrawled on Deidara's sketchbook at his house... The moment he'd discovered that seemed almost years ago.

_The lights go out and I can't be saved,  
Tides that I tried to swim against,  
Have brought me down upon my knees,  
Though I bed, I beg and plead,  
Singing,_

_Come out of things unsaid,  
Shoot an apple off my head,  
And a trouble that can't be named,  
A tiger's waiting to be tamed,  
Singing,_

_You are..._

_Confusion never stops,  
Closing walls and ticking clocks,  
Gonna come back and take you home,  
I could not stop that you now know,  
Singing,_

_Come out, upon my seas,  
Cursed missed opportunities,  
Am I part of the cure?  
Or am I part of the disease?  
Singing,_

_You are..._

Sasori opened his eyes and looked at Deidara as the song began its long and beautiful end. Deidara was already watching him, his eyes bright in the relative darkness around them. Neither of them spoke as the song finished, taking two minutes to come to its graceful, quiet closure.

"You are perfect."

"You have an odd idea of perfection." Deidara mumbled as Sasori pulled him into a kiss. As Deidara's weight shifted, his ipod turned to shuffle.

"What's this?" Sasori murmured against Deidara's lips as he shifted, straddling Deidara's legs and pressing him back against the wall.

"_Sunday morning_.." Deidara replied just before Sasori's mouth returned to his own. There wasn't much talking after that.

"Will your mom get worried?"

"No, it's _Sex and the City _reruns tonight."

"Oh... I'm sorry, by the way, un." Sasori ruffled Deidara's hair and kissed him lightly.

"No, don't be." Deidara shook his head and sat up straighter, looking at Sasori with a very direct gaze.

"No, I am. I got mad at you, even though you were just telling the truth. I was a total...bitch to you, really. I mean, even though I was uncomfortable and stuff... I shouldn't have acted like that, un. I'm sorry." he said, scuffing his shoes together, watching as the rain soaked further into his legs, which were sticking out from under the umbrella. Sasori shook his head again, but didn't say anything for a while.

"So what does this mean?" he asked finally. Deidara shifted slightly, his head resting on Sasori's shoulder.

"What?" he asked simply, and Sasori pressed his lips to the top of his head before replying.

"This. You coming here. Does it mean that if I ask, you'll go out with me? Or does it just mean... that you'll go back to pretending that you don't like me at all? Because if it's the second...after tonight, I'm not sure I can let you do that." he said, skipping _Hard to Handle, _and settling for _Let it Be. _

"The Beatles, huh?" Deidara asked, and he nodded. Deidara took a breath and let it out slowly before answering in a casual voice, absent-mindedly tracing a circle on Sasori's hand, which he was holding loosely.

"I won't go out with you. Yet. I'll give you a maybe. Just because I don't want you to be stuck with me if I'm not sure. I don't want to fight again, un." he said, and Sasori nodded, a little disappointed, but not exactly unsurprised. He listened to the quiet music as Deidara went on slowly, thinking.

"However... I think...I think that I can truthfully say... that I have never...liked...anybody as much as I like you." Sasori let that sink in a moment as he felt his old smirk fall back into its natural place on his face, and he raised his eyebrows at Deidara, turning so he could see his face.

"_Like? _Honestly, Deidara, after all that, you just _like _me? What a let-down!" he exclaimed, face-palming. Deidara scowled and rolled his eyes.

"Honestly, I thought you'd be _grateful, _but _noooo_, un. Stupid, just be happy for once!" he said in annoyance, and Sasori laughed.

"Oh, shut up." Deidara snapped, unable to help smiling.

Sasori just laughed harder, until Deidara, red in the face and scowling, pulled him forward by the collar of his jacket and shut him up properly with another kiss._  
_

* * *

And there we go!  
If you want to know the songs used in the later half of this story, here they are in order of appearance:

**God Only Knows**, **T**he **B**each **B**oys

**She's A Little Too Good For Me**,** B**ryan **A**dams

**Collide**, Howie **D**ay

**Clocks, C**oldplay

**Sunday Morning**, **M**aroon** 5**

**Let It Be**, **T**he **B**eatles


	18. Timebomb

**Timebomb**

* * *

Okay, I know it's been forever FOREVER forever since an update, and I'm truly, honestly, really totally sorry, but I just... ugh. I just couldn't. Writer's block, or whatever, also Grade 11 started completely crappily, and my teachers and courses were screwed up, so... Anyway. Those are my excuses, they're pathetic, ignore them. Anyways, this chapter's... useless, but the next one will be good. :)

* * *

"So... how many extra-credit projects have you done now?" Pain asked, leaning over Deidara, who was carefully painting his latest sculpture, a large otter, who was streamlined with thin silver chains.

"Uh... thirteen, un." Deidara said, his tongue between his teeth as he carefully avoided getting paint on the otter's glass eye.

"Right. I honestly think it's hilarious that you're almost failing _art_." Pain said with a grin. He shook his head and walked away, snapping open his bottle of 7up.

"Shut up," Deidara said vaguely, concentrating. "How many of those have you had today, anyways?" he asked. Pain grinned and sat down across from Deidara at the table.

"Fourteen. I got the huge bulk package I ordered a while ago in the mail today! I'm celebrating." he said, tipping back again. Deidara glanced at him.

"...Right." he said, and ducked the empty bottle Pain chucked at his head, laughing.

"Hello, my freaky darlings."

"Hey, Sasori." Pain said, not looking up from Deidara's art. Sasori shut the door behind him and kicked off his shoes, grinning.

"Hey. Excited for the holidays?" he asked, catching the 7up Pain tossed him as he walked over to the others.

"Nice otter. Very pretty." he said, and Deidara glanced at him, but didn't say anything, immersed in his work.

"Yup. This year, I've got some resolutions for the holidays," Pain answered, leaning back.

"Oh yeah? What?" Sasori asked, sitting down on the floor. "Let me guess. Um... One. Get a girlfriend. Two. Get a girlfriend. And... uh... three, Get a girlfriend?" he said, shooting Pain a teasing look. Pain glanced at him sharply, but the corners of his mouth had tilted up in a smile.

"_No._ This year, I'm going to get Annie a present she actually _likes. _I found last year's present in the garbage on Boxing Day, you know." he said. Deidara clicked his tongue.

"Harsh," he said, and Sasori laughed. Pain grinned.

"Thank you. Thank you for feeling my pain! Yes, it hurt! It hurt me, it _wounded _me!" he said, pressing a hand to his chest. Sasori threw back his head, laughing loudly. He finally quieted down, just in time to hear Deidara ask, 'What did you get her last year? Your sister, right?' Pain nodded. He tipped his head back and drained his bottle, before wiping his mouth and sighing.

"Last year I got her a box set of The Amazing Days of Abby Hayes." he said. Deidara snorted with laughter. Sasori asked, "Isn't she...too old for Abby Hayes?" Pain stared at him.

"No way! Those books are _timeless!_" He insisted. Deidara snorted with laughter again, and put away the paint.

"Too dangerous to paint when you're being funny, un." he explained when Pain glanced at him.

"Abby Hayes is for... you know... eight year olds... nine year olds... up to eleven year olds, around there... I'm pretty sure Annie's too old for that. Or at least, she's too _mature_." Sasori said, and Pain sighed.

"Well, fine. What should I get her this year?" he asked. Deidara shrugged.

"Get her a necklace." he suggested. Sasori shook his head.

"No, she never wears jewellery." he said, and Pain nodded.

"Fine. Does she like somebody you know? You could get her a blind date, un. That's what me and Jed did for Jezzy once." Deidara said, shrugging. Pain tensed, but then snorted with laughter.

"I'm sorry, you and Jed got _who _a blind date?" he asked, and Sasori grinned. Deidara blinked at them.

"Jez. Short for Jezebel. My oldest brother, he's married now and stuff." he explained, then backtracked to his previous point, "Just get her a date with the guy she likes."

Pain immediately tensed again, and Sasori looked away, clearing his throat.

"I'm not so sure about that..." Pain said, giving Sasori a sidelong glance, but Deidara frowned at him.

"Why? Does she like somebody you know?" he asked. Pain looked uncertain.

"Yeah... I mean, we all know she does... "

"So then, what's the problem? It's just one date, right?" Deidara asked, wondering why Pain looked so unsure and tense.  
When Pain didn't reply, Deidara glanced at Sasori, who was still looking away. He'd grabbed a magazine, pretending not to be paying attention. Deidara narrowed his eyes.

"Your magazine's upside down." he pointed out, and Sasori flipped it.

"Well... yeah, it's just one date but... but I think that if you knew who it-"

"Come on already. She's your sister. You don't have to spend money. Just do it. Come on, un." Deidara said, returning to his sculpture.

"Gotta get this to the art room by nine, shit it's eight-fifty..." he muttered, checking the time on his cell. "Kay, I'll see you later." he said, hoisting the otter up gently, careful not to bump it, and he left, kicking the door shut as he did.

Pain glanced at Sasori. Sasori dumped the magazine down on the ground and raised his eyebrows at Pain.

"I'm pretty sure Deidara would-" Sasori began, but he stopped when he saw the grin spreading on Pain's face.

"Oh, come on. No." Sasori protested, but Pain just kept on grinning.

"Come on, come on, this'll be so fun! You get to see Deidara getting jealous again! Sasoriiiii, I know you want to! I know you do~!" Pain said, slipping off his chair and crawling over to Sasori. He began poking him in the stomach, still grinning like an idiot.

"No, no, stop! I won't, I don't want to! Me and Deidara are fine right now... okay, that tickles. No!" Sasori protested, trying to block Pain's pokes, but mostly failing.

"Come on, come on, my 'freaky darling'! I know you wanna! I know you do!" Pain said in a singsong voice, teasing Sasori, who scowled at him, rolling over as he tried to protect his stomach.

"No! I don't! And don't call me that, that's my name for _you!_"

Four minutes of silent poking later, Pain said, "Don't you want to know if he's protective of you? Don't you want to see him get jealous?" Sasori sat up and frowned.

"No, no of course I don't! That's totally not right, he'd...he'd..." Pain grinned as Sasori began running out of protests. His ears were pink, and the corners of his mouth were tilted up in an undeniable grin.

"Okay, fine. But what about Annie? It's mean, you know." Sasori pointed out. Pain shook his head.

"No, she'll be fine. Besides, she got over you last month." Sasori nodded, then paused. He looked back at Pain.

"But you said to Deidara... _oh, _you are a manipulative bastard!" Sasori hissed, grinning. Pain laughed and stood up. He messed up Sasori's hair, then walked to the door.

"I'm gonna go hang out with Itachi. I'm bored of you. Oh, I'll be back after you tell Deidara that you're gonna go on a date with Annie. And I want all the details!" he called before leaving.

He shut the door. Sasori patted his hair flatter, tossed the 7up bottles into the recycling bin, and picked up his Ipod. 

_Holidays, huh... Christmas. I guess I should think about presents... for...Deidara. _He smiled slightly, and flopped down on his bed.

o0o0o0o

"Alright, my little elves and reindeer! Let's see your happy faces! This is going in the yearbook, so no rude hand signs, no pants down, no mouths where they shouldn't be! Come _on!_" Tsunade roared through a megaphone.  
The entire student body grumbled and laughed, squashing together and making faces as cameras flashed from all sides.

"And you do this every Christmas?" Deidara asked in disbelief as he received and elbow to the stomach from a third year in front of him. Pain grinned.

"Well, no. This is new this year, but every year, on every main holiday, we do something like this. Something... uh, festive?" he said, wincing as Hidan stepped on his foot again.

"Festive?" Deidara snorted, "This is madness!"

Sasori grinned and leaned in, "Madness? This! Is! SPARTA!" He yelled, raising his fist in the air.  
Tsunade glanced at him, and he grinned and waved at her. Not that she could pick him out from the crowd of about a hundred and fifty students, though.

"And why do we have to wear these? I feel ridiculous, un." Deidara grumbled, taking the felt-covered reindeer ears and antlers off his head. Kisame leaned between Pain and Sasori and grinned.

"At least you're not an elf. These ears are _hell_." he said, gesturing to the pointy plastic ears covering his own. Deidara stared and then had to turn a shout of laughter into a rather strangled cough. Kisame rolled his eyes and stood back, and Pain smacked Deidara's head.

"Don't laugh like that, it's rude." he said sternly, although his voice was shaking with laughter, and the way he trilled the 'r' made it sound ridiculous. Deidara was still laughing, covering his mouth with his hands. Finally he was able to speak, and he gasped for air, glancing quickly at Kisame, who had turned away and was talking with Itachi.

"His skin is blue... the ears are bright pink...mffahahhaa..." Deidara broke down into laughter again, and Sasori shoved him lightly, his gaze fixed straight ahead as he tried valiantly not to laugh, too.

"Okay, everybody. On three, 'Merry Christmas'. No variations, please, or you'll be massaging my feet for the rest of the year." Tsunade threatened through the megaphone.

"Sounds fun!" some sixth year shouted from the middle of the crowd. Tsunade stared hard into the mass of students.

"Was that you, Tiessen? If you'd like to volunteer, come to my office at five. I'll have the foot cream and Mozart waiting for you." she said with a lopsided grin.

"I'm lovin' it!" Tiessen cheered, and everyone laughed.

"Okay... One, two, three!" Tsunade counted. The huge camera contraption on a tripod in front of Shizune flashed brightly as all the students shouted, "MERRY CHRISTMAS!", and jumped into the air, or did peace-signs, or funny faces.

"No, no, we have to do that one again. This one has to be serious! This one gets sent to your parents or guardians, and you want them to think that this is a serious school, right? Or else they might take you back and shove you into some nasty reform school!" Tsunade said, putting a hand on her hip as she spoke.

"So, this one has to be normal. Again. One, two, three!" she counted again, and the camera flashed once more.

"MERRY CHRISTMAS!" the students yelled again, this time not jumping, but looking quite serious. One of the second-years even pretended to cry.

"Okay, okay, that'll convince them that you're being reformed..." Tsunade said, and the kids laughed.  
"Alright. Three more, for the yearbook. First one, jump or pose or something, and say... 'St. Misery's!', okay? One...two... three!"

Flash.

"Okay, now... funny faces. One, two, three!"

Flash, flash.

"Now... whatever the fu- oh, whoops, slip of the tongue. Whatever you want. Just nothing... vulgar. Right?" she asked, with a menacing glare. The students were still grinning from her 'slip of the tongue', but nodded solemnly. "Right. Ready? Three... two... one!"

Sasori grabbed Deidara by the waist, and hoisted him up into the air, grinning. Pain and Hidan raised their shirts, Kisame pulled the corners of Pain's mouth into a huge grin, while Itachi did the same to him. Everyone else was jumping, or making faces, or raising a few fingers at the camera, or pantsing the people in front of them. Flash, flash, flash.

"Awesome, okay, back to your dorms! Good night!" Tsunade called through the megaphone.

"Remember to put your antlers and ears and elf hats back into the boxes at the doors of the gym. We'll be counting them, and if anything's missing, the whole school will do a week-long bootcamp in the snow. Good night!" she called, waving them out as Kakashi helped Shizune dismantle the camera and tripod.

Back in their room, Pain, Deidara, and Sasori were sprawled on the floor.

"..and that's seriously why Kisame is blue." Pain finished. Deidara and Sasori stared at him.

"Woah." Sasori said, putting another gummy worm in his mouth. Pain nodded, and got to his feet, brushed cookie crumbs off his pants, and stretched.

"Alright. I'm gonna go hang out with Itachi for a bit. You coming?" he asked, walking to the door. Deidara shook his head, and Sasori said that he needed at least an hour to absorb the new information before seeing Kisame again.

"Okay." Pain said, and left, shutting the door behind him. Immediately, Sasori turned and looked at Deidara with a big smile and raised eyebrows. Deidara rolled his eyes.

"Nice, un." he muttered before rolling over on the floor and curling into a ball. He closed his eyes, and wished to be able to fall asleep instantly. But no. Sasori's cool hand ran softly through his hair, and Deidara opened his eyes.

"What?" he asked quietly. Sasori smiled to himself as his hand found Deidara's ear and tugged it lightly.

"You know how you said that Pain should get Annie a date with the boy she likes for Christmas?" he asked. He spoke too loudly, and tried to make it quieter. "Remember that?"  
Deidara nodded. Then he frowned and sat up, glaring suspiciously at Sasori.

"Yeah, I do. Why?" he asked, and Sasori smiled at him innocently.

"Well... the boy that Annie likes is me." he admitted. Deidara's expression didn't change.

"And...?" he asked bluntly. Sasori blinked at him, a little surprised, but then he turned away and shrugged.

"It's nothing." he said before standing up and walking towards the door. Deidara watched him leave. As soon as the door closed, Deidara jumped to his feet, his hands clenched into fists.

"Oh yeah?" he yelled at the closed door, "You thought I'd care about that? Bet you thought I'd be jealous, huh? WELL SUCK ON THIS, I DON'T GIVE A SHIT!" Deidara shouted, flinging Sasori's pillow at the door before stomping on it several times. He left it where it was before walking out the door himself, slamming it as he left.

He didn't care that he was only wearing a pair of rolled-up jeans and a loose blue shirt. His bare feet soon became cold as he walked along the polished stone floor, ignoring the curious glances of the other boys who were leaned against the walls or else sitting on the sofas. His hands were still curled into fists, and he was grinding his teeth as he glared straight ahead, not even sure why he was so angry.

He stormed out of the boy's hall, knowing and not caring that it would be locked in ten minutes. He walked quickly down hallway after hallway, dodging into empty classrooms whenever a staff member walked past. Finally, he settled down in a little niche in the wall, where a statue had once stood, and curled into a ball.

He held his cold feet in his hands and glared straight ahead, still not thinking or caring about what would happen once the doors were locked. He was still yelling at Sasori in his mind, not even certain if he was allowed to be so angry. He had no reason to be upset, and yet...

And yet.

* * *

Alright, that's that, not too much, not even any kissing or anything! T-T, but that's okay. Next time, I PROMISE YOU that there will be some sweet SasoDeiness goin' on! :D :D :d hehe. Please review, and thank you again for subbing and faving!


	19. AssBandits

**Ass-Bandits**

* * *

Okay, quick update (well... vaguely quick), but I just really felt motivated to update this. Thanks to everyone who's reviewed this story! It's great, you guys review so quickly, and when I read them, I always smile, because you're so nice! :) :)  
Alright. I mentioned two songs in this chapter. The main one is _Natalie's Rap _by _The Lonely Island. _It's funny, but I have t warn you, the lyrics are a little rude... The second is _Family Reunion _by _Blink182. _Ditto for that one.  
Ah, yes, this chapter has more swearing than my other chapters, just because... it just does. **  
Don't own Naruto.**

* * *

Deidara shoved the door open and slouched in. It had taken several hours to find Shizune's room and convince her to let him in, but as soon as she'd seen the blueish colour of his feet, she'd agreed.

"This had better be the last time, motherfucker." she had growled, holding the cucumbers from her eyes in her left hand, the huge iron key in the other hand. Her face mask was cracking, but Deidara knew it wouldn't be in his favour to point it out.

And now it was two a.m. He sighed and tugged his jeans off, not bothering with anything else before clambering up the bunkbed into his bed. He yawned, and his face was stiff from scowling. He fluffed his pillow, then grabbed his blanket and flung it over himself. He glared at the other side of the room before closing his eyes.  
A few seconds later, he restlessly tossed, kicking the blanket off, and flung his arm out. He didn't fall asleep until 3:12.

"Deidara, wake up. Come on, breakfast ends in twenty minutes!" Sasori pushed Deidara, who rolled over and raised his middle finger at the disturbance. Sasori rolled his eyes and gave up, but didn't leave. He sat down on the floor, leaning against his own bed. Pain had given up a while ago, too hungry to bother trying to get Deidara up out of bed.

"Where were you last night?" Sasori asked in a falsely offhand voice. Deidara's face ached from scowling for so long. He was sure he'd get wrinkles early, but he didn't care at all at that point.

"Fuck off." he snarled, glowering at the screen of his ipod. He was buried down under his blanket so Sasori wouldn't know he had no intention of sleeping.

"Very original." Sasori retorted. Deidara imagined himself flinging a desk at Sasori's head. He scanned his ipod, searching for the song he needed... the song, the song...

"Fine, fine. When you're done PMSing, don't forget to take a shower and do laundry." Sasori said at last, taking a magazine with him as he left the room.  
Exactly twenty seconds after he was gone, Deidara flung the blankets off and shoved his earphones in. He slid down the ladder, pulled on new jeans and a hoodie, then left the room, once again with barefoot.

'_We're sitting here today with filmstar Natalie Portman...'_

"Thank God..." Deidara muttered as he pushed open the door to the dorm next door.

"Is Pain here?" he asked as Itachi glanced up from his book. Itachi closed the book and stretched.

"Yeah. He's in Kisame's room." he said, pointing a thumb behind him. Deidara walked forwards, seriously envying his neighbours and their separate rooms.  
He knocked on the door that had a Jaws poster on it, proving his guess correct as Kisame's voice called, 'Come in'. Pain and Kisame looked up as he entered the room. They were playing cards.

"Hey. When's Sasori's date with your sister?" he asked bluntly. Pain raised an eyebrow, trying hard not to grin. Deidara didn't notice, too busy glaring at his feet.

"I told Annie about it already. It's tomorrow, and starts at 6pm. They're gonna see a movie, then they'll get dinner." he said. Deidara nodded silently, then turned on his heel and left.

As soon as he was gone from the dorm, Pain turned and grinned excitedly at Kisame, who brought out his cellphone and a notebook. Quickly, he texted Sasori, '_Plan successful. Meet Annie.' _On the notebook, he took out a thick red pen, and made a checkmark next to Deidara's name.

"You're right, this is fun." he said, and Pain laughed.

"Told ya it was." he said with an easy grin.

"So... why are we going on a date, again?" Annie asked, holding the phone against her ear with her shoulder as she carefully painted her toenails. Sasori grinned, sitting on the top of the wall outside the school.

"Your brother wants to have fun, that's all. One of his normal schemes." Sasori said casually, one hand in his pocket. Annie blew on her nails, then put the polish away, waving her feet in the air to dry them. She took her phone back into her hand and sighed.

"Right, right. So... just to double check... if that stupid boy's plan _does _work, we won't go and see a movie, but if it doesn't, we will. That makes no sense." she said, and Sasori grinned.

"I know. But it does to him, so..." Annie rolled her eyes, and lay back against her pink pillows, looking up at her poster of Johnny Depp.

"Right. Of course. See you... or not... tomorrow." she said, and hung up.

Sasori shut his phone and hopped off the fence, just as Deidara burst out of the school and began marching towards him. Even from far away, Sasori could make out the scowl on his face. He seriously wondered if Pain was _really _on his side at all.

Deidara pressed play.

_I don't sleep motherfucker off that yak and Durban,  
Doin' one-twenty, getting head while I'm swervin',_

"Hey. Glad to see you looking so chipper." Sasori said brightly with a hint of sarcasm, trying _very _hard not to let on that Deidara's currant expression of defiance and anger was kind of making him nervous.  
Deidara marched right up to him, not saying a word, and then leaned against the stone fence, glaring mutinously at the sky. Sasori couldn't help it, he felt a smile stretching his cheeks.

"Don't smile, asshole. I know you think it's funny, un." Deidara snapped, and Sasori's expression changed as quickly as though he'd been slapped.

"Are you angry or somethi-"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP AND SUCK MY DICK!" Deidara yelled, wheeling to face Sasori, who stared at him, his jaw dropped. Deidara breathed heavily before grinning sheepishly and shrugging.

"Sorry, I love this song." he said innocently, and returned to leaning against the fence.  
Sasori continued to stare at him, not willing to believe that such a violent sound had emerged from the boy in front of him. Finally, Sasori sighed and leaned back against the wall, too. Deidara folded his arms and pulled his earphones out.

"So...are you jealous about Annie?" Sasori asked finally. Deidara didn't respond. "What would you do if I kissed her?" Once again, Deidara yelled at him.

"PUT MY FOOT DOWN YOUR THROAT TILL YOU SHIT IN MY SHOE!" Feeling that his job was done, Deidara switched off his ipod and marched away, leaving Sasori staggered against the fence, staring at his retreating back.

Pain found Deidara an hour later, sitting on a bench outside the school. He sat down next to him, and drummed his fingers on the wooden slats between them.

Deidara glanced at him. Pain's expression didn't change, but he was surprised to see a wistful expression with a flicker of annoyance on his face, instead of the full-on glower that Deidara had been sporting for the last sixteen hours or so.

"What?" Deidara asked before yawning. Pain smirked slightly.

"What? Where's the 'hello'?" he asked, but Deidara didn't answer. Pain sighed, looking straight ahead to where a group of third-years were playing rugby on the field.

"Staying mad at him like this isn't gonna solve anything. You know that, right?" Pain asked in a low voice. Deidara didn't answer immediately, and for some reason his throat was tight. He frowned, and cleared it.

"I know that, un. I also know that it's all _your _Goddamn fault!" he snapped, amazed at how angry he could sound, even though his body and mind were exhausted of energy.

Pain nodded, and pressed the tips of his fingers together, flexing some random muscles absent-mindedly. Deidara hadn't looked at him yet, his gaze always fixed on some point in the middle-distance.

"I know that," Pain said, bringing a chocolate bar out from his jacket pocket and offering it to Deidara, who fell upon it hungrily, "I know I set up the date with Annie. But _you're _the one who made this whole thing so serious. If you just talked it out with Sasori, I bet he wouldn't even go. At the very lest, he'd know you're jealous, and-"

"I'm not jealous, un." Deidara interrupted, the chocolate bar in his mouth muffling the words slightly. Pain nodded.

"Right," he began, but Deidara could tell he didn't believe him at all.

"I'm _NOT JEALOUS!_" he yelled, pushing himself up from the bench and turning to face Pain, resisting the urge to storm away.

"Do you really believe that?" Pain asked quietly, watching Deidara's face. Deidara glared at him, his shoulders tense as Pain's words settled in. _No, _a voice in his head said, _no. _He ignored it spitefully and shook his head, trying to shut it up.

"You're wrong, you're wrong." he growled, both at Pain and at himself. "You're wrong." he said again.

He turned on his heel and left, marching angrily away across the muddy grass. Pain was left sitting on the bench. He watched Deidara go, then pulled out his phone. Quickly, he created a new message to Sasori. '_In denial, headed your way'  
_Send.

Sasori shut his phone just as Deidara stormed around the corner of the school and came into view.

"Deidara!" Sasori called, walking forward. Deidara looked up, surprised, and then he scowled again, but waited. Sasori walked to him, his hands in his back pockets, and smiled. "Hi." he said, and Deidara snorted.

"Seriously? Is that all?" he asked, unable to stop a grin crossing his face. Sasori returned it, then ran a hand through his messy hair.

"No. I wanted to talk to you." he said, and leaned back against the school wall. Deidara copied him, and didn't speak.

"Are you... are you actually okay with me going out with Annie? It's just once, but if you were angry about it, I'd-"

"You'd what? Ruin her Christmas? I don't think so, and for the record, I am _not _jealous, and I don't give a rat's ass what the fuck you and her do, un." he said angrily, and looked away, glaring at the horizon. Sasori sighed and pushed off of the wall. He moved so he stood right in front of Deidara.

"Look at me." he said. Deidara didn't. "Look at me," Sasori repeated quietly.

When Deidara didn't move again, Sasori put a cool hand under his chin and turned his head. Deidara glared defiantly at him, but his expression changed. He had always avoided looking straight into Sasori's eyes when they were this close.

"Don't do that." Deidara mumbled, closing his eyes. Sasori blinked.

"What?" he asked, and Deidara mumbled something incoherently. Sasori grinned, deciding to force the answer out of him, and moved two inches closer, pressing his lips softly against Deidara's. To his surprise and amusement, the blonde boy didn't protest at all. A few minutes later, Deidara turned his head away, panting, then cracked an eye open and glared at Sasori.

"Those eyes... don't look at me from so close, un. I can't..." he broke off, getting his breath back. Sasori waited patiently. Finally, Deidara burst out, "Why are they like that? I mean, I always knew they look like you're stoned... or like your dreaming or something weird. But... but I... I don't want to say something like 'my walls crash down when I look at you', but... seriously, I can't... damnit." he trailed off, glaring at the ground. He saw a tear fall onto the grass and mentally swore at himself for being so emotional. He wiped his eyes and cleared his throat loudly, looking up at the sky.

"Hm, looks like it's almost lunch, we'd better be going inside, un.." he said, taking a step sideways, but Sasori caught him and held him against the wall.

"You're lying." he whispered in Deidara's ear before lightly pressing his lips to the warm skin of Deidara's neck. "I don't know what you were talking about before, but I want an answer. Are you okay with it?" he asked in a low voice, gazing straight at Deidara, who couldn't avoid looking back, no matter how hard he tried.

"Damnit..." he murmured before shaking his head mutely. A smile flickered across Sasori's face as he leaned in a gain and kissed Deidara, who kissed him back.

"Mummy! Look! Ass-bandits!" It was a small child, walking with his mother past the school. Deidara and Sasori broke away and stared as the two continued on their way.

"Ass..." Deidara began, frowning at Sasori.

"...Bandits?" Sasori finished, his mouth twitching.

Then all at once they burst into laughter.

"_When I was in Harvard, I smoked weed every day..._" Deidara mumbled the lyrics to the song he was listening to as he walked to Kisame's room to talk to Pain, who was there again. A door to his right opened, and Hidan walked out, a huge grin on his face.

"_I cheated every test, I snorted all the yay,_" he continued, and Deidara bounced up and down, beaming.

"_I got a def posse, you got a bunch of dudes,_" they rapped together, making hugely fake gangsta movements and random flails. "_I sit right down on your face.. and TAKE A SHIT!"_ they yelled, Hidan shaking from controlled laughter.  
Then Hidan began the next part, as, unbeknownst two the two 'rappers', Itachi, Kisame, Pain, Kakuzu, and Sasori stood around and watched them.

"_Natalie... you are a bad-ass bitch,"_

_ "Hell yeah!"_

_ "..and I always pay for your dry-cleaning when my shit gets in your shoe~"_

_ "What!" _Deidara yelled, doing what he probably thought was a kind of gangsta arm signal, but really looked like he was controlling the reigns of a horse.

"_As for the drug use," _Hidan continued, _"Well I can vouch for that! My dick is scared of you... ooh!"_

They finished the rap, and jumped up and down, laughing like total maniacs. And then the others, who had gone completely unnoticed until that moment, started a slow clap.

"Motherfu- You were watchin?" Hidan demanded, as Deidara turned pink and switched off his ipod.

"You two should start your own show." Itachi said, clapping slowly along with the rest.

"Yeah. Call it, 'Two morons being dumb fucks'" Kakuzu said monotonously, and the others laughed while Hidan angrily spilled the whole _Family Reunion _song into Kakuzu's ear.

* * *

And there we go. I hope it was okay. Definietly in the next chapter, we'll have a bit more... uh... SAsoDei fun, y'know. But I thought this chapter was really fun to write. Please tell me what you think!

S.N


	20. Ginger

**Ginger**

* * *

So, it's been a while since the last update, and I ABSOLUTELY NEED TO UPDATE I LOVE! I definitely will do that next weekend, I hope, so then it's ready... I want to update it on my birthday, which is coming up soon. A present to you from me, I guess. :) I'm really happy that people are still discovering my stories for the first time, it's great to know that everybody still likes this, and I know I do, which is why I wish I could update these quicker. School, sadly, has started up in full swing, and this year I have all of the 'devil' teachers, or that's what everybody calls them. All I know is that I've got mountains of homework. -_- argh.

* * *

"I've been thinking."

"Don't hurt yourself."

Deidara glared at Pain, who was lying sprawled on his bed, _Rolling Stone _magazine in his hands.

"I'm serious." he said sourly, sitting up and leaning back against the wall. "I've been thinking-"

"I thought I smelled burning rubber."

Deidara glared at Pain again, and shot the rubber band from around his wrist at him. It his Pain on the forehead.

"Ow."

"You deserved it. Anyways, I've been thinking about Sasori, un."

"Surprise, surprise." Pain said drily from behind his magazine.  
Deidara glanced around for something to throw at him, and settled for Sasori's pillow.

"No, shut up and listen!" he said after the pillow made contact with Pain's head. "I've been thinking about him-"

"Miracles will never cease."

"WILL YOU STOP THAT!" Deidara exclaimed indignantly, crawling forwards and snatching the magazine from Pain's hands.

"Hey,"

"LISTEN!" Deidara insisted, flinging the magazine behind him. "I've been thinking about him, and wondering what _you _think. Do you think that I-"

"That you are desperately and hopelessly in love with him? Yes." Pain interrupted bluntly.  
Deidara stared at him for a minute before his shocked expression settled back into a scowl.

"_No. _As I was _going _to say, do you think that I should try going...on a..."

"A cruise?" Pain supplied, and Deidara smacked the top of his head.  
"You're abusive." Pain said, massaging his hair, but Deidara ignored him, too preoccupied with trying to convey in words the tangled web of thought that had been forming in his mind during the past week.

"No. No, on a... date, un." Pain stared at him as though he'd grown two heads.

"... a date? I'm sorry, are you high?" he asked finally, in a rather strangled voice. Deidara frowned.

"No, I'm not. I just thought I'd ask you what you thought about it." he said, as though what he'd been suggesting was perfectly normal, as normal as contemplating having toast for breakfast. Pain shook his head, sighing with exasperation before looking back up at Deidara.

"Well... okay, I'll say what I think... but haven't you been kind of... swearing away from this idea since you first met Sasori?" he asked, speaking rather slowly as if he were talking to an elderly relative who'd just insisted that they were, in fact, a squirrel. Deidara squirmed slightly, and looked at the carpet, which he started to pick at with his thumbs.

"Well... it's nothing, I just thought... oh, nevermind." he said, turning away and curling his knees up against his chest.

"Well, I'll tell you what I think anyways." Pain said, shifting and crossing his arms. Deidara nodded, but didn't turn around, wanting to listen without Pain being able to see his expression. Pain let out a long sigh, then looked up at the ceiling, thinking of what to say.

"I think..." he began, pausing, "I think that it could be a good idea, but it depends on how you feel. I think you know as well as I do that if you suggest it to Sasori, and then it doesn't go well, and you change your mind, it would kinda... crush him. It might ruin your friendship (sorry for the cliché), and I know that you definitely don't want that." Deidara snorted, and Pain grinned.

"I know you don't. I don't care what you say, you're actually pretty close to him. And I'm not just talking about snogging him in the halls. I mean you guys are good friends. So, I suggest that you think it over a little more. I know that you're probably confused or something, and maybe you're beginning to doubt your reasons for telling him no, but just be completely sure before you do something like this. That's what I think." Pain finished, and lay back on his pillow. Deidara said nothing, so Pain sat up, clambered off his bed, and fetched his magazine back.

"Just think it over." he suggested as he left to hang out with Itachi.

"Right. Right..." Deidara muttered under his breath, and left the room. As he walked out of the boys' hall, he realized just how much time he spent in his room; he hardly ever left. He smirked and rolled his eyes, attracting a passing glance from a seventh-year.

He pushed the double doors open and walked down the hall, not really conscious of where he was going until he realized that he was heading directly for the woodworking studio- where Sasori was. Deidara muttered darkly under his breath at his predictability, but then the corners of his mouth tipped up in a smile that he ignored.

Sasori had just finished cutting the wood he needed and had started sanding it down when Deidara pushed open the door and came in. Sasori looked up in surprise, then grinned.

"Hey. Miss me?" he teased, tossing a pair of safety goggles at Deidara, who caught them and put them on with a grimace.

"_No. _I just wanted to ask you a question, un." he said tersely, sitting backwards on a chair as he watched Sasori begin to sand down what looked like a giant snowflake.

"That's cool. Is it hard to do something like that, with a load of holes in the middle?" he asked, and Sasori nodded.

"Yeah, but I think the hardest part was the outside. All those corners... but, I got better at it after the seventh one." he said, nodding his head at a pile of similar snowflakes on a shelf across the room.

"They're all different, un." Deidara said in amazement. Sasori grinned, not looking up from his work.

"Of course. 'No snowflake is the same', right? I drew different designs for each of them." he said casually, and Deidara raised his eyebrows, impressed. Then he cleared his throat and asked, "Are these your Christmas project?" Sasori nodded again, twisting the two-feet by two-feet snowflake around so he could sand the other side.

"Yup. These are gonna hang at the ceiling of the lunch hall, after I paint them and put glitter on." Despite himself, Deidara snorted with laughter.

"_Glitter? _That's a bit..."

"Shut up, Tsunaboobs insisted." Sasori snapped, but he was grinning. "So, you wanted to ask me something?" he reminded Deidara, who turned pink and straightened up in his chair, clearing his throat again, before commenting on the appalling weather.

Sasori lowered his gaze down to his work again, trying to hide his tiny grin; Pain had sent him a text message not so long ago. '_So, I'm probably not supposed to tell you this... but I feel that I should give you a heads-up, just in case. Deidara wants to ask you something.' _Not very specific, but the way Deidara continually cleared his throat and turned pink and changed the subject kind of gave it away.

"Yeah, the weather sucks, but what did you want to ask me?" Sasori asked again. He stood up and put the snowflake with the others before returning and sitting backwards on his chair, like Deidara.

"Well?" he pressed, his tone completely casual, not giving away how nervous he was. His feet drummed rhythmically against his chair, as was his habit, but he couldn't bother to stop them.  
Deidara, who generally disliked sitting around for long periods of time during conversations, especially if he was the one talking, stood up and began to walk around the room, now and then pausing to sit on a table, or to inspect one of the saws.

"I wanted advice." he began, turning his face away from Sasori. He hated it how every time he spoke with the redhead, he'd begin to get fidgety and embarrassed, and then he'd think about all their... kisses and things. And then he'd turn red, and that just wasn't good.

"Mhmm..." Sasori said from over at the big table. Deidara turned around and faced him. He took a deep breath, his hands stuffed into his back pockets to hide that he'd clenched them to give himself determination. He was starting to give Sasori credit for being able to say such things on a regular basis without any of this hassle.

"If Pain found a girl that he liked ,who _really, really _liked him..." he began awkwardly, watching as Sasori's feet continued to drum against the legs of his chair.  
"... and he asked her out... but then it didn't go well, and it turned out that Pain didn't like her as much as he thought he did, what do you think he should do?" he finished, rushing the end of the sentence.  
He looked at Sasori, whose expression hadn't changed. Sasori was trying hard not to crack a rib from not laughing. He was shaking slightly, nonetheless.

"I think... Well, first of all, that little scenario is impossible." he said bluntly, and Deidara frowned in surprise. "Why?" he asked. Sasori allowed himself a grin.

"Pain's a ginger. The idea of somebody _really, really _liking him is in the realms of impossible." Deidara laughed and returned to his seat.

"Okay. Ginger jokes aside," Sasori began, pancaking his hands on the table in front of him, "I think that if that actually happened, I think that he should just leave it. It's better to do that than to continue in a relationship that only makes one person happy, don't you think? And even then, I bet the girl would know, and it would hurt her veen more to be with him if he didn't like her back, right?" Sasori asked, speaking quickly, but never losing his casual tone.  
The tone you use when discussing the weather, not really expecting the other person to listen or care.

Deidara listened, and nodded as Sasori spoke, but flushed slightly when he realized with embarrassment that he paid more attention to Sasori's lips than to his words. Deidara made a non-committal sound as he twisted his fingers in his hair, thinking.

"Your eyes are in the streets." Sasori commented. It took a few moments to register in Deidara's mind that he hand spoken, and when it did, he turned and frowned at Sasori.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sasori blinked at him.

"You've never heard that saying?" Deidara shook his head. Sasori sighed and smiled slightly, resting his chin on his palm, elbows on the table.

"It means you're not here, you're thinking about something else. It's like you're far away. My mum says it." he said, tracing a circle on the table. Deidara leaned back and looked at the ceiling. He hated being silent, doing nothing, but with Sasori, it was strangely bearable... and even comfortable.

"Talk to me, un." he said, running his eyes over the intricate patterns of wires and wooden beams that made up the ceiling.

"About what?" Sasori asked, now chipping at the table in a tired sort of manner with a blunt chisel. Deidara rubbed his eyes and yawned.

"Anything. Anything at all. Just tell me stuff." he said, twisting away and closing his eyes, as though he was going to have a nap. Sasori glanced at Deidara as a tiny smile flitted over his features.

"Alright." he murmured, but allowed himself a moment to wonder at life before he began. 

_How fun, _he mused, as he allowed his gaze to drift down Deidara's dark-gold hair, down his shoulder, over his arm to his long, tanned fingers. _How fun, and how odd. The feeling of not owning your own heart... it's not mine anymore, is it? It's gone... but it hasn't gone far, has it? Has it? _He asked himself, smiling slightly again as he realized that he was asking himself questions that he couldn't answer on his own.

"Alright." he murmured again, and this time he began.  
"I want to spend Christmas with you." he said, then took a deep breath, not looking at Deidara. "I know you're going to be with your family, but I don't care. I want to spend Christmas with you. I want to walk in the snow with you. I want to sleep next to you on Christmas Eve, and I want to be next to you when you open your presents on Christmas Day.  
I want to walk under mistletoe and eat chocolate oranges with you. I want to go Boxing Day shopping with you, and I want to be the one to stop you spending too much money. I want to stay right next to you until New Years, and I want to kiss you at midnight." he said, checking his nails, looking as casual and laid-back as though he'd just rolled out of bed.

"But I'm greedier than that, and once I have you next to me for so long, just us, nobody else, I want to stay like that for another month. Another year. I don't ever want to leave your side. I know you don't feel the way I do, and I know that everybody says I'll just get hurt if you reject me- bullshit!  
I don't care about that, I don't care about... I just care about you. I don't care if you grow to hate me. I'll still be right there, waiting for the day that you might get bored of being alone." He glanced at Deidara, who was still facing away.  
When he realized that Sasori had stopped talking, he turned around, and his gaze was seized and held by Sasori's.

"Waiting for the day when you stop running long enough to realize that I'm your destiny, whether you like it or not." Sasori's voice fell softer, to a murmur, and Deidara, almost hypnotized by his words, automatically leaned forwards to hear properly.

"I'm waiting... for you." There was a long pause. They were both looking down at the table, their soft breathing the only sound in the large, empty room.

"You know..." Deidara broke the silence, his voice louder than he meant, making them both jump. "You could have just talked about the weather, that's all I wanted..." he said, feeling both awkward and embarrassed. Sasori smirked and shot Deidara a casually seductive look.

"Hey, what did you expect? You said 'talk to me', so I talked to you about the only thing I think about. I think about you all the time. In class, in the shower... in bed..." he met Deidara's gaze with a straight bedroom-eyed smirk.

"Well, _don't!_" Deidara snapped back, more amused than annoyed, which shocked him into silence. He heard Sasori sigh, and there was a grating sound as he dragged his chair closer. A warm, furry head appeared on Deidara's arm as a long, warm arm appeared around his waist.

"Hug me, I'm cold." Sasori ordered.

"No." Deidara said back, gazing straight across the room. Sasori made a pouty, whiny sound and bit Deidara's side lightly.

"Hey! Don't bite me!" Deidara snapped, slapping Sasori's head, just as lightly. He marvelled inwardly that their fighting, which had once been so passionate and violent, was now... almost a complete farce.

_Even now, _Deidara thought, _even now, when I hit him... I didn't really want to. It's like it's all a show, put on for... for whose benefit? Sasori's? No. Then... then, is it for me? To convince of what... that we're still fighting? That we're still just friends?_ At this realization, Deidara fell into silence, shocked that _his own thoughts _had completely freaked him out.

"...you bit me first, remember? When you first came, you bit me. So this is payback. Not that I minded, you can do it again... it was pretty hot." Sasori had continued, and Deidara took a while to tune back into the conversation.

"Alright, alright, I'll hug you. But this is just because you're cold, not because I like you, because I don't, un." he specified, although even to his own ears, it sounded false, as though he was reading lines from a textbook. This realization didn't ease his racing mind in the slightest.

He put his arms around Sasori gingerly. Sasori, of course, took this as a heartfelt invitation, and flung himself into Deidara's arms, giving him the bearhug of his life, and tipping both of them off of their stools and onto the floor.

"Ow, Jesus- you landed on me!" Deidara complained as he waited for his head to stop throbbing.

"Sorry, sorry." Sasori said, laughing. He held his chest off of Deidara with his arms, and looked down at the scowling blonde beneath him with a grin.

"Does it hurt anywhere?" he asked, concerned. Deidara shot him a look, rubbing his head.

"Yes, it does." he shot back bitingly.

"Where?" Sasori asked carefully, and Deidara rolled his eyes, exasperated, although he didn't know why.

"I don't know... everywhere. Everywhere hurts, un." Sasori's eyes narrowed slightly in triumph as an almost predatory grin spread over his cheeks.

"Then I'll kiss _everywhere _better." he whispered before falling down upon Deidara again, claiming and dominating his mouth at once, shocking Deidara, who gasped, frowned as he closed his eyes, letting Sasori in out of habit, and grabbed Sasori's hair, intending to cause pain, but Sasori's moan of pleasure told him otherwise.

"Hey.." Sasori murmured against the skin right next to Deidara's lips as he kicked the stools away and pulled down at the neck of Deidara's shirt, tracing lines over his neck and collarbones, looking regretfully at the rest of his shirt.

"That's in the way." he said softly, catching Deidara's gaze.

"Don't you dare." Deidara snapped, diverting Sasori's attention by pulling him down again, tugging down on his lower lip with his teeth, getting another moan out of the redhead before he was pressed down to the floor again, and his mouth and tongue were ravished again.

The camera flashed, and Pain smirked triumphantly, walking away from the door, which he'd opened and closed in absolute silence.

"What's that for?" Kakuzu asked as they walked back to the boy's dorm.

"Blackmail. Just in case." Pain said with a grin and a wink. Kakuzu whistled and raised his eyebrows.

"I like the way you think."

"I thought you might."

* * *

**Whew! **There we go, hope you liked it! October's soon... my favourite month! Have a great week, and please review, and tell me what you think!


	21. Kiss Me Now

**Kiss me now (part 1)**

* * *

I'm so sorry about how slow I've been updating. A month and a week, or something like that! I'm so sorry, but I promise I have a very good excuse! 1) I've been writing a book, and 2) When I started writing this chapter and began I Love's new chapter, my power went out! This happened twice in a row! Sucks to be me living in a city with a lot of wind.

As usual, thank you to Fun-Sized-Otaku for getting me up off my ass and motivated to update this! Also, I have the most pathetic English teacher in the world. There are _typos _in the tests she hands out, and she thinks that cell phone is spelt with _one L! _Arrgh! She kills me!

So, here's the new chapter of Prov, let's mock it like it's hot!

* * *

"Any plans for the Christmas break?"

"Eugh, these costumes are disgusting... not really, you?"

Sasori grimaced at the sparkly white headband in his hands, then at Deidara, who was struggling his way out of a white sequinned longsleeve. Finally, he tugged it off of his head and flopped down on Pain's bed, wearing nothing but his matching sparkly pants, which were basically MC Hammer's parachute pants, only... part of a snowflake costume.

"Yeah... I think I'm going to Germany or somewhere with my brothers and mom... something like that, un." he mumbled. Sasori mimicked Deidara and tore off his shirt and silver bootees and matching gloves, and collapsed onto the floor, running a hand through his dark red hair, vaguely trying to de-sparkle it. They had just come from the Christmas assembly, and this year, Shizune had come up with a genial idea to have each grade represented by a different Christmas-themed icon. Guess who got snowflakes.

"Looking forward to it?" Sasori asked, yawning. Deidara rolled over, cringing, and rubbed his face.

"Like having teeth pulled out. Kill me now." he moaned.

"I must have misheard you, did you say _kiss _me now?" Sasori said, and Deidara didn't need to open his eyes to know that his roommate was grinning.

"_Kill _me now, not _kiss _me now, you stupid-" Deidara felt his hands pulled away from his face, and looked up to see Sasori bending over him, silver sparkles still flecked across his cheeks like freckles, dusting his messy hair.

"You really should enunciate, to prevent these problems." he purred, and leaned down even more, so their noses were almost touching. Deidara stared up into Sasori's heavily lidded brown-grey eyes, not finding the words that normally came so readily to him; 'Get off of me, asshole', 'Leave me alone', 'Don't do it, freaky moron'. He just stared at Sasori, who, obviously enjoying every second of it, smirked and said, 'Close your eyes.' Not used to taking orders, Deidara glared up at him defiantly, but Sasori just chuckled and kissed him on the nose.

"Kidding!" he exclaimed, jumping away and laughing while Deidara rubbed his nose and finally found the words he meant to say earlier.

"Stop doing that to me, you weirdo! It's bad enough you strut around naked half the time, like this morning-"

"Good times." Sasori said fondly.

"-but then you go and do something like that... I mean, my _nose? _God's sake, you got sparkles all over me!" he said, disgruntled, as he brushed them from his face. Sasori just laughed. Pain entered the room seconds later, wearing nothing of his snowflake costume except the pants, like the two others, and grinned, hands on his hips. "Do you just like sitting on my bed or something?" he asked, nodding at Deidara, who was still in the process of extracting the glitter from his long hair.

"Of course. It's because you're just suck a sexy maniac we can't help but absorb all we can get of your raw... _masculinity and hotness _from your bed." Sasori said, serious all the way. Deidara gave a snort of laughter which he quickly turned into a gasping sneeze, but Pain ignored it, and struck a ridiculously provocative pose, then wiggled his hips at Sasori, who fell over backwards with laughter.

"I'm sexy and I know it." Pain said, grinning as he strutted across the room and began digging through his chest of drawers.

"What's up now? Lost your tanning lotion, Mr Pale?" Sasori asked.

"You should borrow some of Deidara's- he's got enough sunshine for the both of us." Deidara stuck his tongue out at Sasori, but Pain just shook his head.

"Nope, but a tan would be a nice change. I'm just grabbing my outfit for the dance."

"God, do guys actually use the word 'outfit'?" Deidara asked in surprise, and Pain shot him a sour look, still digging through a drawerful of shirts.

"Well, _I _do. Mostly because Sasori does, so blame him. Remember, you have to be dressed festively to get in, but you can't wear your grade's outfit." he said, pulling out a tight black longsleeve, blue striped mittens, and black earmuffs.

"Tada!" he said rather half-heartedly after changing, and Deidara and Sasori gave him a slow clap.

"So... what are you supposed to be?" Deidara asked finally, and Pain shrugged.

"Well...they let you in as long as you look wintry, right? So... so... fine, it's just because Hidan stole my costume idea." he grumbled, and folded his arms across your chest.

"Oh, don't worry, Pain. This is an educational school, and I'm sure with time, you and Hidan will learn to share, like good little children..." Sasori said in a mollifying voice.

"Oh, shut up." Pain muttered as he left the room, leaving Deidara and Sasori laughing in his wake.

"So, what are you going as?" Deidara asked, once he'd recovered from his fit of laughter. Sasori grinned.

"It's a surprise. What are you gonna be?" Deidara twirled a strand of his hair.

"A surprise, un." "Right. Let's both change then... and then... the big reveal." Sasori said ominously, drawing another snort of laughter out of Deidara, who agreed, mostly to humour him.

Ten minutes later, they were facing each other in the middle of the room, staring at the other's outfit.

" I... can't believe..." Deidara began, then gave a little shriek of laughter and couldn't continue.

Sasori was wearing black suspenders which were holding up a pair of really tight, bright red leather pants, that lace up at the front and are fringed with white fur all around the hips. He was wearing black Converse with them, a santa hat, and on his chest was 'Are you on my naughty list?' in black Sharpie.  
Essentially, a whory Santa.

Sasori crossed his arms and scowled, a smile trying -and succeeding- to spread across his face. "Oh, shut up. Yours isn't exactly _serious, _is it?" he asked, looking Deidara up and down, for about the fourth time.

His usual tanned skin had been darkened until it was a rather warm umber, and on his face was icing, framing his eyes, over his eyebrows, and lengthening his smile. There were three large icing circles on his bare chest, covered by cookies. 'Because Smarties were too small', he had explained. He was wearing brown skinny jeans and black TOMS, and his hair was sprayed to the limits, trying to impersonate cotton candy, with Candy Canes twirled in and held in place by hair gel.

"So... you're a Gingerbread hottie?" Sasori surmised, gingerly poking one of the cookies.

"Yeah- no, a Gingerbread _man, _there's a difference, un." Deidara corrected him.

"What kind of icing did you use, to stick it to you?" Sasori asked curiously, and Deidara answered as they left the room, heading for the source of the Christmas music that was echoing through the school's loudspeakers.

"Uh, it's Royal Icing, but the base is false-eyelash glue, which I borrowed from Hinata, that shy girl in..."

"Illusionary art, yeah. I remember, you came in there that one class, asking about how to put optical illusions into chemical gas..." Sasori murmured, taking in all the other costumes they passed on their way to the dance.

There were hoards of 'little miss Clauses', stockings, elves, reindeer, Santas, Jack Frosts, _Jill _Frosts, and a couple really original ones: Hidan, dressed in a surprisingly provocative Santa's sleigh outfit, complete with a sign around his chest that read, 'The best ride in the world', Itachi's present outfit, which basically consisted of him wearing a red jumpsuit with a zipper down the front and a tag around his neck that said, 'Unzip your dream come true.'  
After questioning, it turned out that he was dared to wear it. Then there were a couple predictable 'Dick in a box'es, who were thankfully at least wearing _half _their underwear. They passed a group of girls who were all dressed as Whos, then a guy as the Grinch.

"Got your costumes?" Tsunade, who was wearing an angel costume, asked brusquely as Sasori and Deidara joined the long line-up to get into the dance, where they could already hear _All I want for Christmas _pounding through the wall.

"Yup." Deidara gave her a thumbs-up, and Sasori gestured to his chest. Tsunade read it, rolled her eyes, and continued on.

"Right, right, go on in." she said, and waved them through the door.

"This is..." Deidara didn't finish his sentence, just staring around the huge room. The lights were spotlights that circled around the room in red and green and white, Christmas lights strung across the ceiling in all directions, and huge stockings hung on all the walls. Sparkling snowflakes that had to be at least two metres in diameter hung from the ceilings, reflecting light as well as disco balls, and-

"Is it _snowing _in here?" Deidara asked, gaping at the flecks of white that were slowly sprinkling down from the ceiling high above. Sasori glanced up.

"Yeah, they do this most years. Can't remember how... something to do with the set design team? You could ask Hidan, he's in that class... oh, right, I forgot- this is the first school dance you've been to- you missed Halloween." He shook his head and tutted in shame, and Deidara shoved him lightly as they wandered through the bustling crowd of teenagers all swaying awkwardly to the festive music. Sasori slung an arm around Deidara's waist, steering him towards a corner of the room.

"I'll make sure you have fun." he said, and gave his friend a wicked little smile.

* * *

Okay, a pitiably short chapter, I know. But I will update this one again soon, just to finish up the little party, and (in theory), I will get I Love's new chapter up within the next two weeks. I'm sorry about how slow I'm being, but as I mentioned before, I am doing my best to update for you!


	22. Teeth

**Teeth  
**

* * *

So... It's been a while...  
I know I said I'd update quickly, but I seirously had the worst writer's block EVER! ...(sigh) Enough with the excuses, here it is, latest chapter, and because I love you guys and there were a LOT of requests from you horny individuals (kidding! :D), there is a sex scene in this chapter. It's like... not very good, because I'm not used to it, and it's not exactly full-on lemon, but... oh well. I doubt anybody reads this blurb at the top, you're probably like 'ZOMG GET TO THE YAOI' (haha that's what I'm like... ahem), but if you're interested, and you have Twitter, you can follow me. Just type in the usual url with the usual**twitter** dot com, then** /#!/NovaFiction**, and you should find me. [_This is not a personal account, or a plea for followers! (although I currently have one...:P)] _I just thought it might be an idea for those of you who wait so long for my updates to be able to check up on me and contact me more easily.  
Oh yeah, and if the whole magnets/credit card/door thing doesn't work in real life... please, don't be upset. I honestly had no idea how it was supposed to work. Sorry!

* * *

"So..." Deidara said awkwardly, looking around and shifting slightly, painfully aware of Sasori's eyes almost aggressively looking him over. "This is nice, un..."

He glanced back at Sasori in time to see him scowl slightly, then grin, then shrug, as though he was having some sort of inner conversation with himself. Deidara stared at him.  
Finally, as though coming back into the real world, Sasori smirked, grabbed Deidara's hand and muttered 'let's get out of here.'

"What?" Deidara asked above the music, having not heard, but Sasori merely rolled his eyes and began to drag Deidara quickly through the crowd, towards the emergency exit.

"Won't the alarm go off if you open that? And _where are we going?_" Deidara asked in annoyance, trying to get his breath back. Sasori turned, put a finger to his lips, and winked.  
'_What kind of an answer is that?' _Deidara was tempted to say, but held his tongue. Not letting go of Deidara's hand, Sasori pulled a bank card from his pocket, stood on tip-toe, and ran it over the top of the door. Then he pushed it open.

Deidara followed him through, glancing back at the Christmas party as the door shut on it, confused.

"What didthat do? Prove there's no dust on the top of the door?" he asked Sasori, who was replacing the card and looking around approvingly, his hand still holding Deidara's captive.

"No. Disrupted the magnetic field, or something like that..." Glancing at Deidara's disbelieving face, he shrugged. "That door was installed last year, after the Valentine's dance's streamers caught fire. Pain set up the door itself, but made sure there was a way to open it without the alarm going off. Something about magnets and forces and something complicated..." he explained. Deidara raised his eyebrows, smirking.

"I thought you _loved _complicated things. Like those weird puppets you make, un. Last week, I swear you were talking about the different wood grains you use for those for a whole hour!" he said accusingly.  
Sasori shrugged and grinned, finally letting go of Deidara's hand, so that he could clear away some chairs that were folded against the walls. Deidara looked around the room, realizing that he hadn't bothered earlier.

As far as he could tell in the semi-darkness, they were in a short, thin hallway, lit only by moonlight shining through a window at the other end. Several doors were on the right and left, all with padlocks and deadbolts on them, and Deidara suspected that at least one of them led outside.  
He looked back at Sasori to find him lounging on the floor, leaned against a stack of chairs, the picture of comfort, although Deidara couldn't understand how folded chairs could be particularly comfortable.

"What are you doing? I thought you wanted to go outside." Deidara said, folding his arms across his chest, careful not to break the cookies that were iced to it. He looked up again to find Sasori looking at him with an odd expression on his face.  
It looked almost like hunger.

"I didn't necessarily want to go outside," Sasori said quietly, standing up and taking a step towards Deidara, his thumbs hanging on the belt loops of his super-tight red leather Santa pants. Probably because his hands couldn't fit in the pockets.  
Another step forwards brought him almost face-to-face with Deidara, who was now very aware of just how effective Sasori's usual bedroom-eyes and dreamy expression could be in semi-darkness. He was looking up at him softly from under his dark lashes, his wavy red hair just falling into his eyes. Deidara twitched suddenly with the urge to smack himself across the face, because he had just realized that Sasori looked very, very sexy...and kissable.

"Listen... you can still hear the music..." And he was right. Through the thick walls that surrounded them, a pulsing bass line was practically vibrating their bones, and Deidara wondered how on earth he hadn't felt it earlier. Whoever was selecting the music had clearly gotten bored of the usual Christmas tunes, and had abandoned them in favour of some more recent hits.

'_There he goes, my baby walks so slow, sexual tic-tac-toe, Yeah I know we both know, it isn't time, no... but could you be m-mine?'  
_

Sasori smirked and leaned against the wall next to Deidara, who was feeling both uncomfortable and flustered at his proximity -there was scarcely four inches between them, at any point of their bodies- kept his gaze stonily on the redhead's. Sasori flicked a switch, and the small space was bathed in a reddish light.

"Well, that's not normal." Deidara said, glancing up at the red light fixtures above them. Sasori didn't respond, and Deidara didn't blame him; he had spoken only to relieve the odd tension he sensed settling between them, and he hadn't succeeded anyway.

"Do you believe in kissing under mistletoe?" Sasori asked, his chin resting on Deidara's shoulder, his warm breath tickling his ear.

"No." Deidara answered so quickly that Sasori hadn't even finished speaking before he replied.

"No?" Sasori asked, smirking in a way that was frighteningly predatory, walking around Deidara slowly, brushing against him, like a cat winding its way around its owner's legs, purring.  
Deidara was less concerned about Sasori's hand that lightly traced around his shoulders, and more focused on his eyes, which held his gaze the entire time he was in view. Deidara didn't want to think about what he could see in those eyes -desire, teasing, a silent dare- and instead looked upwards. And wished he hadn't. Hanging just a foot above his head was a sprig of mistletoe.

And it wasn't the only one.

Deidara's insides tightened with apprehension as he saw, reflected in the reddish light, at least a dozen more, hanging throughout the little corridor, essentially confirming what Deidara had suspected; he had absolutely no escape route.  
Going back into the dance room where the rest of the school was would probably be impossible without Sasori's card, the other doors around him were probably all set up with alarms as well, and by the way Sasori was looking at him, amused and victorious, he probably wasn't going anywhere any time soon.  
Deidara sighed and rolled his eyes, trying to retain at least a _little _dignity. Sasori stopped circling him and stood in front of him, directly underneath the first dangling bunch of mistletoe.

"But don't you _want _to kiss me?" he asked, his stance relaxed, the smirk on his face and his bright eyes challenging. Deidara leaned back against the wall, refusing to play his game.

"Not particularly, no."  
Sasori's smirk widened, and Deidara groaned to himself; anything that made Sasori happy probably would make him less so. Sasori took a step forwards, and swiftly tugged Deidara towards him.

"I don't believe you." he whispered, his lips barely two centimetres from Deidara's. Deidara stood there, terrifically off-balance, Sasori's teasing, tantalizing eyes almost hypnotizing him, basically being _dared _to kiss the boy in front of him.  
Which was something he was beginning to want to do.  
But Deidara didn't really like the idea of playing straight into Sasori's hands. It was obvious that he was behind it all, that he'd set up the mistletoe and the lights way in advance... that the events leading up to them being 'trapped' in the hallway had occurred just as he had planned. Deidara grinned. He saw from Sasori's slightly raised eyebrows that he hadn't expected that, or perhaps he was just teasing again.

"Well, don't you look dangerous." he said with a wicked grin.

"Scared?" Deidara said back, now feeling amused and excited, instead of wary and impatient, as he had just a few seconds earlier.  
What had brought about the sudden change? Probably the idea of showing Sasori that he wasn't one of his puppets. He was determined to show Sasori that he was uncontrollable, certainly unpredictable.

"Of course not." Sasori replied, looking surprised.

"You really should be." Deidara said.

Sasori had roughly all of two seconds to absorb this rather enigmatic statement before he was seized around the shoulders and slammed against the wall behind him, then his mouth assailed, invaded and tortured by Deidara's, the following five minutes a battle for dominance, two armies fighting, retreating, retaliating, surging forwards. Sasori moaned, giving up and letting go as Deidara bit and sucked his lower lip until he was satiated and returned to his tongue and the caverns of his mouth.  
Sasori was breathless and almost completely collapsed against the wall, held up only by his own legs, that were weak at the knees, and Deidara's fierce and domineering grip on him, one hand at the back of his neck, tilting his head back, the other around his waist, where the other hand had somehow managed to slip into the back pocket of his tight leather pants, and was gripping his ass tightly.  
Sasori's hands were cradling Deidara's face, holding him closer, like a silent plea for the pleasure never to end, for Deidara to stay there, for them to stay as they were forever. Deidara seemed to sense this, because he drew away, eliciting a whine from Sasori, and then a gasp when he bit down on his neck.  
Deidara smirked against Sasori's skin, but his mind was a jumble of thoughts and confused emotions. He had no idea what he was doing, -but the sounds Sasori was making did give him a pretty clear idea-, he wasn't even sure if he wanted to do what he was doing, but all he knew was that he was having fun. He liked it.

_'Whatcha gon' do with all that ass, all that ass inside them jeans?' _

Deidara smirked, the beat from the dance hall speakers still seeming to ignite his bones.

"I'm a make make make make you scream, make you scream, make you scream." Deidara muttered, a slightly sadistic grin crossing his face.  
He seized Sasori by the shoulders, taking him by surprise, and turned him around. Sasori hardly had time to register what had happened when Deidara's teeth were on his skin again, biting down hard at the back of his neck, his arms around Sasori's waist, his hands deftly unbuckling Sasori's belt.

"What are you-" Sasori's surprised voice was cut short by a sharp intake of breath as Deidara successfully pulled the tight red leather down and one of his hands wrapped around Sasori's semi-hard dick, which almost immediately stiffened to its maximum.

"Oh my _God..._F-fuck..." Sasori moaned quietly, panting slightly. Deidara bit down on Sasori's ear, feeling quite dirty as he grinned at the sounds he was drawing out from the boy between his legs. Still gripping the base of Sasori's cock firmly, he reached around, grabbing Sasori's hand and pulling it towards him. He held the hand tightly, close to his face, licked slowly up the middle finger, then began to suck on it.

"Fucking...h-hell.." Sasori breathed, his eyes widening and his dick so stiff it was almost trembling, pre-cum shining at the tip. Sasori closed his eyes, breathing harder, his senses in turmoil, unsure whether to focus on the mouth that was sucking hard on his finger, grazing it with its teeth, teasing it with its tongue, or on the hand around his painfully hard cock, which had begun to pump slowly, holding tightly, the nimble fingers occasionally circling and teasing the dripping tip.

"D-Deidara..." Sasori moaned, desperation and overwhelming lust resonating like a symphony in his low voice, and Deidara promptly let Sasori's finger out of his mouth. A 'tch' sound escaped his lips, and he scowled slightly, but his mouth was in a twisted smirk, pumping Sasori harder.

"Really, Sasori, my man..." he said in a voice that Sasori thought was far too full of fuck-me-now sexiness to be allowed, "It's not fair for you to say things like that so slowly. Want to know what it does to me?" he hissed in Sasori's ear, his other hand now stroking down the thin ridge at the base of the throbbing member he was pumping. Sasori's head turned quickly, and, somehow controlling himself for a moment, he grinned at Deidara, and winked.

"That's a yes then, un." Deidara muttered to himself, and shoved Sasori's head down before pushing him to his knees, doing the same himself. Deidara continued pumping Sasori the whole time, changing the speed and the pressure according to the loud moans emanating from his 'project'.

"Bang." Deidara whispered, almost to himself, and then, as suddenly as a panther attack, bent down and sank his teeth into the side of Sasori's neck, biting and sucking viciously as his pumping rhythm increased, and he began to grind against Sasori's rear in time with his hands.  
As soon as Deidara's teeth had dug into his skin, Sasori had given a shuddering, lascivious groan, the pain and the pleasure intermingling wildly, sending sparks whizzing through his brain. The multiple wickedly licentious sensations seeming to almost be burning with arousal made Sasori go slightly cross-eyed, and his breaths came in short, sharp gasps.  
He was far more aroused than he'd ever been in his life, and was sure that every touch, every sound, every sight would be forever engraved in his memory. Knowing that he was close to his finish, closing his eyes and biting back a loud moan, Sasori decided to experiment.

"Deidara..." he gasped as Deidara's hips rocked against his, pushing into him, the hands around his dick still pumping vigorously. Deidara grunted, his mouth occupied, tugging at Sasori's ear once more. Allowing himself a grin, Sasori repeated himself, this time louder, and even slower.

"Dei..da..ra...C'mon. Play with me, stupid brat. Deidara..."  
At once, the teeth let go of his ear, and to Sasori's ultimate dismay, Deidara backed away, his hands sliding away from Sasori's ready-to-blow cock. Sasori opened his mouth to protest, but he was suddenly shoved onto his back, his head cracking painfully on the hard concrete. He looked up just a hand once again wrapped around his dick.  
Deidara was kneeling between his legs, looking at him with a fierce, rather wicked, and mind-numbingly sexy smirk on his face.

"You just live to cause trouble, don't you?" he asked, bending low, and, as Sasori watched with a rather euphoric sense of awe, ran his tongue lightly up the length of the pulsing shaft held tightly in his hand. Sasori twitched, his hands desperate for something to hold onto, but finding only smooth concrete.  
It felt _so good, _but it was a tortuous procedure to watch, as Deidara licked this way and that, sometimes circling the tip, other times concentrating on the base, his free hand cupping and stroking Sasori's balls, Deidara's eyes holding Sasori's gaze the entire time. After a few minutes of this erotic sight, Sasori couldn't take it any longer.

"Ah... Deidara... I'm gonna..." he gasped, biting down hard on his lip as Deidara stroked all the way up his shaft with his tongue. Deidara nodded, and -so quickly that Sasori wasn't sure he saw it- winked.

"Ready?" Deidara whispered, dipping the end of his tongue into the tip of Sasori's trembling dick.

"Explode."  
With that, he dropped his head, enveloping Sasori's cock in his mouth, beginning to suck hard. Sasori had cried out in ecstasy at this, and barely a few seconds later, came violently. Deidara looked at Sasori, who was gasping, sweat gleaming on his chest and damp in his hair, and swallowed with a rather triumphant expression on his face.  
Deidara sat back, leaning against the wall and watching with a rather unidentifiable emotion that felt a bit like possessiveness as Sasori lay before him, panting, and looking almost dangerously provocative. Deidara's mouth widened into a smirk as he felt something hot and uncontrolled spread like a wildfire through him. He chewed his thumb, watching as Sasori sat up at last, his cheeks pink, his hair more ruffled than usual.

"Hey." Deidara said, and Sasori looked at him, too tired to smile, but it wasn't a smile Deidara was looking for. Sasori's eyes, the dark bedroom eyes he'd become accustomed to were holding his gaze heatedly, and the odd, possessive feeling that had filled Deidara just moments before now flared again more intensely. Because Sasori's gaze, which was always seductive and alluring, was now so aflame with erotic, carnal lust that it was positively pornographic.

"How was that?" Deidara asked, and a flicker of a grin crossed his face when Sasori ducked his head, embarrassed, which was hilarious, considering how much of a pervert he was.

"Can't hear ya, un." Deidara called, enjoying himself as he watched Sasori squirm uncomfortably. Finally, he raised his head, giving Deidara a rather annoyed, albeit amused and salacious, look.

"Not bad. Pretty good. Possibly the best...ever..." he said, gesturing vaguely as he zipped his pants back up, his chest still rising and falling rather more quickly than usual, his sweat-darkened hair falling into his eyes. Deidara grinned broadly, getting to his knees.

"Until now."

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And there you go! Quite short, I'm afraid, certainly not what you guys deserve after waiting for so long, but I thought I'd better update ASAP even with only a few words. Once again, if you want to follow me (the author, not me personally) on Twitter, to check up on me, send me ideas/suggestions/requests, please go ahead and check me out at **twitter **dot com **/#!/NovaFiction**


	23. Wicked Hearts

**Wicked Hearts**

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Hey there! I'm so sorry for the slow update... ah, it seems as though I'm always apologizing for that... Official goal: To update more often! Thank you to those of you who follow me on Twitter... I know I'm not very exciting or anything, but it's still nice! This chapter is pretty short, but I did have fun writing it, which is a ginormous plus, because it means that I'll be totally energized for continuing I Love and updating this one again! I hope I get another update for this before the end of spring break...  
Hope you like the chapter, and please tell me what you think!

* * *

"That didn't happen. That never happened. That did not happen. I refuse. I absolutely refuse. I have officially wiped that moment from my memory... from history, from..."

Deidara knew he was running out of words, so he began to repeat himself, going over the impossibility of the events from the night before over and over and over in his head. As his desperation to deny grew, so did his speed: soon he was almost sprinting, a mixture of adrenaline and panic fuelling his pumping muscles. Although it wasn't gym class, Deidara was outside, running around the edge of the school grounds, completely focused on refusing to acknowledge as his own actions.  
The air was very cold, and his breath was puffing out in little clouds as he ran faster as spurts of recollection flashed through his mind. Sasori's skin under his teeth; his hair between his fingers; his eyes, half-lidded with desire and seemingly burning into him; and...and...  
"Aaaaagh!" Deidara yelled, sprinting full-out as his shout of desperation and disbelief echoed over the school grounds.

A murder of crows took off, protesting, from a nearby group of frost-covered trees.

Sasori watched as Deidara ran along the path at the edge of the field, yelling his head off. He grinned as he unwrapped a lollipop and slipped it into his mouth. Of course he knew what Deidara was yelling about. He felt like yelling himself. But for a rather different reason. Slipping his hands into his back pockets and beginning to stroll in a rather self-satisfied manner over the grass towards the nearby picnic benches, he decided to yet again, look over the facts.  
He sat down, fixed his gaze on the small figure of Deidara, who was still running like a madman, and allowed himself another grin; deny it as he might, Deidara had been the one to start everything last night; sure, Sasori had set it up, but mostly to check Deidara's reaction. Not only that, but Deidara -completely of his own accord- had given him a handjob. With almost no encouragement or instruction. _And _a blowjob afterwards. And he wasn't even drunk. Sasori smirked and took out his phone: time for some more fun.

'_Doing a victory lap? You little tease.'_

He pressed 'send', and smirking, looked across the field again. He saw Deidara slow down and stop, reach into his pocket, and look at his phone. Brief silence, and then Sasori's phone vibrated. Grinning, he opened it. A new message from Deidara (naturally), with an attached picture He pressed enter to view it.

A large image of Deidara's raised middle finger filled the screen.

Sasori laughed and shut his phone, then proceeded to stroll back into the school.  
He had an appointment with the school nurse. Just a check-up, and one that could be postponed at that, but while he did love watching Deidara freak out, and he very much enjoyed the incredible sense of triumph that filled him whenever he thought of his little 'blondie', he also loved the cherry lollipops he got from the nurse.

As he pulled open the heavy double-doors to the school, he glanced back towards the fields, and grinned again as he spotted Deidara now kicking a tree. He tutted, and pulled out his phone as he proceeded down the wide hallway, the double doors slamming behind him.

'Environmental assault. Very, very bad boy. Does this naughty boy need to be taught a lesson?'

He pressed send, slipped his phone back into his pocket, and knocked on the door to the nurse's office. It opened at once, and he walked in just as his phone vibrated. As directed, he sat down on the paper-covered counter and opened his mouth as a popsicle stick pressed his tongue down, and opened the new text.

'Such blatant sexual harassment shall be immediately reported. Please feel free to repent and beg for forgiveness in vain. PS get bent.'

Sasori spluttered in shock, and glanced up to see the nurse's deadpan expression as she wiped his spit from her face.  
"Sorry." he muttered, but his attention was already elsewhere, his thumbs whizzing over the keypad on his phone, grinning widely.

'Deeply apologetic and most deserving of this fierce chastising. Sexual harassment shall cease immediately at your request, however one must question the hypocritical nature of the postscript in your previous message. Is it perhaps you who should be begging for forgiveness? PS 'Get bent' definition: bend over for anal. Very naughty.'

He hit send, then laughed silently throughout the rest of the check-up, imagining the incensed expression on Deidara's face when he read the text.  
Twenty minutes later, he walked out of the nurse's office twirling his lollipop around his mouth with his tongue, feeling as though the sugary sweet was very well-deserved. He began to meander in the direction of his room, as the last class before the hols was almost over anyways, then decided to check his phone for a reply from Deidara. He grinned when he saw that he had a new message, and selected it eagerly.

'Fine. I see your intelligence is not as completely non-existent as I had presumed, although don't get cocky: you still have the brains of the most uncivilised single-celled organism in existence. I shall remove my previous postscript from the court record, and replace it with a more fitting phrase: Fuck you.'

Sasori replied, quick as lightning, welcoming with open arms that feeling of happiness that he only got from 'arguing' with Deidara.

'My feelings are ripped apart and lie dead on the floor; my heart keens for them. But I do think your phone auto-corrected your 'more fitting phrase' without your realizing it, editing out three important words: 'I want to'. But what is this? With those three vital words back in their original place, your phrase is now 'I want to fuck you'. How embarrassing, I can't believe you would say something so passionate and erotic! Oh my, I'm blushing...'

Deidara's reply came fast and furious.  
_Naturally..._Sasori thought as he read through the text, a spring in his step.

'It truly sickens me that a complete and utter pervert like yourself would feign innocence and bashfulness in the face of such a blatant and vulgar lie. To be completely honest, I really want to drive a nail into your spinal cord right now. Also, as you are under the impression that my original message of Fuck you needed three words in the front, I shall also make an addition to my phrase, to further correct it and outline its original intentions: In my nightmares.'

And so it continued, Sasori's suggestions and reprimands getting more and more sexualized while Deidara's replies became more and more biting.

'Drive a nail into my spinal cord? How kinky, and yet so like you, my carnal master. PS you have very, very naughty nightmares.'

'Calling me your master is one step forwards in your behavioural rehabilitation, however you must also recognize each and every one of your intellectual superiors. Do not forget in the future to grovel at the feet of the termite, to honour and pray to the mould that deigns to grow on the bread you feed yourself, to revere the splinter that humiliates itself by embedding itself into your fat flesh. PS it's quite hypocritical of you to call my nightmares naughty, as you live your entire life with a state of mind that could put brothels out of business if ever it were published to the unfortunate outside world.'

'You love my dirty mind.'

'I am aware of no such disgusting admiration for such a vile entity.'

'I love it when you talk dirty.'

'Please don't talk to me. I am very busy and important.'

'Important to me.'

'Go away.'

'You break my heart.'

'Good. Maybe if I do, you'll die and I can be rid of you.'

'Ouchie. Kiss it better.'

'I will the moment Hidan enters a library.'

'How cruel. Lick it better, then. Or bite it. I like that too.'

'How about I make myself happy and pour acid into your every orifice?'

'Kinky. That would require you to see me completely...nekkid. I'm into that, definitely.'

'Because you're a narcissist.'

'No, because I love the face you make whenever you see me shirtless.'

'One of disgust, I imagine.'

'No. One of lust.'

'Bloodlust.'

'Lust for my body.'

'...I hate you.'

Three days later, Deidara still was avoiding Sasori at every opportunity, returning to their room very late at night and leaving very early in the morning.  
Pain was practically the only person who saw anything of him, and even then Deidara behaved oddly, refusing to answer direct questions, but constantly interrogating Pain about Sasori's behaviour, Sasori's recent topics of conversation.

"For God's sake, Deidara," Pain finally said after a particularly long questioning about what Sasori had talked about during breakfast. "If you're so interested in what he's thinking about, why don't you ask him?"

"Because if I even text him about classes, or just to say hi, he sexually harasses me!" Deidara replied indignantly., Pain shook his head, laughing, then sighed.

"The guy lives and breathes you, Deidara. The least you can do is cut him a little slack. He's _always _going to sexually harass you. It's up to you to decide if you like it. My advice? Just shut up and say yes already. Now if you'll excuse me, I am very busy and important." he said with a wink and a grin, and walked away.

Deidara stood, rooted to the spot, still burning with questions and protests, as the very words he had texted to Sasori just three days earlier buzzed in his ears along with the gay chatter of those around him.

Sasori opened the door to the small dorm room slowly, and trudged in. It seemed that, despite the fact that there were no classes as the school was closing for the holidays that day, all his energy had been sapped, merely at the thought of spending Christmas with his parents. He flopped down onto his bed and gave a huge yawn, sleepily deciding that forty winks couldn't hurt anyone.  
He had just begun to doze off when a voice he recognized happily spoke suddenly above him.

"To Germany? But mum! We saw them last year, un." Sasori's eyes snapped open immediately, and he sat up as quietly as he could.

"Come on! I'm sure Jezebel won't want us coming... well, he's got a family of his own, seriously!"

Sasori slid out of bed and crept around to the ladder that led up to Deidara's bed. He was quite obviously discussing the winter holidays with his mother, but Sasori was currently more focused on his element of surprise: Deidara clearly hadn't heard him come in and was currently off-guard. Perfect.

"Well, actually now that you ask, I don't particularly want to go." Deidara said in a rather miffed voice.  
Sasori's ears pricked, wondering if he was overhearing something interesting.

"Well, because... because it will be a lot colder in Germany, and.. what? Did I meet someone?"  
There was an awkward silence, and Sasori had to press his hand hard against his mouth to stop his smile from widening, but it was no use: it was too funny .

"I just don't want to go, okay? Can't I stay with dad and Jed? Fine, jeez! Don't have a cow..." Deidara muttered mutinously. A few seconds later, he hung up and sat up to find Sasori sitting across from him on the bed, leaning casually against the wall, his arms folded and his mouth in a rather crooked smirk.

"What are you doing up here?" Deidara asked irritably, shutting his phone off and tossing it under his pillow. Sasori shrugged.

"I just wanted to talk to you." Deidara narrowed his eyes and looked up and the ceiling, refusing to meet the gaze of the boy whose heavily lidded eyes were so powerfully locked on his face.

"Well, I have no cause or inclination to talk to you. So go away." It was hardly a command, more like a suggestion.  
Sasori made no move to leave, but tilted his head to one side, grinned, and asked, "So, have you met someone?" Deidara glared at him for a moment, then looked away again.

"I've met plenty of people, not that it's any of your business." he muttered, folding his arms across his chest. Sasori allowed himself a small, sweet smile, then crawled towards Deidara, who immediately looked uncomfortable, and rested his head on his shoulder, looking dreamily up at him.

"But it is my business, especially if you've met other people... it makes me so jealous... Anything concerning you is my business. Because..." He batted his lashes endearingly, and softly said, "Because I love you."

The effect was immediate, both boys painfully aware that he had gone too far, said too much. Deidara's face turned a rather fetching shade of magenta, and he shoved Sasori away from him. To his credit, Sasori looked relatively unfazed, but did fidget awkwardly for a few minutes.

"What...what the hell? Don't say stupid stuff like that, un. Not only is it cliché, it's completely... weird and untrue and stupid and just shut up!" Deidara exclaimed, getting more and more defensive with every word.  
He shoved past Sasori and clambered down the ladder, finally leaving the room and slamming the door behind him.

Alone in the empty dorm room, Sasori tested the words out again and again, with different tone and emphasis every time, confessing over and over, with mounting honesty to the boy who was no longer there.

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And there we go! Short as I said already, but still. Please review, because I love it! Thank you for reading!


	24. Catalog Man

**Catalog Man**

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So... I bet most of you forgot about this story! All my fault. I have no excuse. But I decided that I absolutely have to finish this before I go away for the summer! And so I have spent all morning writing these couple chapters, so it's kind of a triple-upload! In fact, **I think I might actually finish Prov today!** as for I Love, for those of you who read that one, I will try update that too, but the chapters will be a lot shorter than my usual length for that story, because honestly 10,000 words is a little much at a time when I've got final exams creeping up... anyways, so here is my present to all of you wonderful people who like this story! And for those of you who are saying '_Where the F is the smex_?' **I promise that I will do the best lemon I can possibly do before I end this story.** Thank you so much for your continued support, and although I doubt anyone is going to read this ginormous paragraph, I might as well ask for a review or two, for old times' sake. Just to let me know what you guys want to happen before the end! Oh yeah...** Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any characters from that series. This was written purely for entertainment purposes.**  
Yeah... I just bolded whatever I thought might be important... :D Please enjoy!

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Sasori strolled into the dormitory, humming to himself, to find Pain lounging on his bed, holding a mirror in front of his face and what Sasori recognized as a piercing gun in his other hand.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Dr Frankenstein himself. Where's Deidara?" Sasori asked, sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of Pain, who acknowledged him with a glance.

"Airport." Pain said as the muscles in his hand flexed and a sudden click snapped the air.

"Airport? Why's he at the air..."  
Sasori's voice faded away as he remembered, his stomach dropping slightly, Deidara's conversation with his mother on the phone: '._.it will be a lot colder in Germany, and.._' Pain, meanwhile, had tossed his piercing gun aside and was now examining his sixth earring with concentrated interest.

"Well, that's fine..." He murmured, bending his ear to check the back. Noticing Sasori's uncharacteristic silence, he looked up again. "What's wrong? Deidara said you knew. His flight's at four, I think."  
When Sasori only scowled and raised his eyes to the ceiling, Pain continued, starting to grin.

"Well, don't let it ruin your life. It's the last day of school! You should be packing, or celebrating! But then again... it's only natural for you to be thinking about him. After all... you _loooooove_ him..."

A well-aimed kick from Sasori sent Pain flying into his pillows, laughing like a drain. Sasori stalked out of the room, pausing only to pick up his backpack, and was soon striding determinedly down the hallway, muttering to himself.

"'_Said I knew_'... seriously, there should be a limit on how irritating a person can be..." He turned a corner so sharply he walked straight into two first-year girls who shrieked and scowled at him, but he didn't even look back. He pulled his phone out from his back pocket and checked the time.  
Two fifty-three.

Swearing mildly under his breath, Sasori began to run, ending up at a full sprint as he burst out the front doors, haring down the path, then the street, willing himself to go faster, willing the bus ahead of him to wait just a minute longer. Panting, he clambered up the bus stairs, tossed some coins into the ticket machine, and fell into the closest empty seat he could find.  
The bus started to speed smoothly down the road away from the school, and Sasori watched the trees flash by, his nose pressed against the glass of the window. Around him, the loud chatter of other students heading to the city buzzed with energy and excitement.

Sasori suddenly understood what Pain had been talking about: in contrast to last year, when Sasori had, among other things, carved a huge dick adorned with a Christmas wreath into the door of Tsunade's office, shovelled snow onto Itachi from the second floor, and face-washed as many first years as he could get his hands on, he was behaving most oddly in the face of the winter holidays.  
'_And it's all because of you,'_he thought ruefully as he glanced down at the screen of his phone, where Deidara's blue eyes glared up at him. He smiled slightly, shut his phone, and tried to get comfortable; it was going to be a long ride.

Sasori was woken up by a third-year, who hit him in the head with their huge hockey bag. "Seriously.." Sasori muttered, but leapt to his feet when he saw the huge airport sign out the window. He urged the gaggle of chatty girls queueing ahead of him to hurry up, jumped off the bus, and immediately headed for departures.

There was a strong wind, which sent snowflakes spiralling around him in a rather picturesque manner. Sasori, however, had no patience for the picturesque at that moment, and shook them impatiently from his hair. The automatically sliding doors welcomed him into the warm airport lobby, and he stared around him as he stomped snow from his boots, hoping rather optimistically to spot a blonde -_his _blonde- in the throng of travellers. When no such individual surfaced, he scanned the large electronic display above him, chewing his lip nervously.

Finally he found what he knew must be Deidara's flight. A knot of tension within him eased instantly as he saw the large, brightly shining 'Delayed' next to it. Now far more relaxed, he began to walk through the crowd of people hugging, kissing, crying, and buying tickets. He flicked his phone open, and called Deidara. After three rings, he picked up.

"Yeah?" Sasori didn't want to admit it, but his spirits lifted immeasurably as Deidara's blunt greeting met his ears.

"What a charming way to answer the phone." Sasori said sarcastically, wandering aimlessly through a group of Chinese men who were sorting through passports.

"Oh, it's you." Was he imagining it, or was Deidara smiling?

"You're at the airport." Sasori said, scanning around him again.

"Um, yeah... so are you." Deidara replied. Sasori frowned.

"What?"

"You're at the airport too. I can _see _you, un. You're such a stalker. How creepy can you get?" Sasori looked around him, feeling rather paranoid.

"You can _see _me? Where are you?" he asked.

"I'm on the balcony. You're that puny redhead who looks like they've got a nasty twitch." Sasori scowled and looked up. Sure enough, he could see Deidara leaning against the railing. As soon as Deidara saw that Sasori was looking at him, he turned away.

"I want to talk to you. Come over here." Sasori ordered. Deidara hesitated.

"I do actually have a flight, you know..."

"Two-hour delay. You're not going anywhere." Sasori interrupted.

"Yeah, I know..." Deidara mumbled mutinously.

"Why can't we talk on the phone?" he asked.

"Don't keep me waiting, Deidara." Sasori said, smirking.

"You know I don't like being kept waiting..." he added naughtily. Just before he hung up, he heard Deidara make a derisive noise.

"So now what? You going to beg me to spend the Christmas holidays with you?" Deidara asked sarcastically, folding his arms.  
They were standing just outside the airport, a little ways away from the entrance, and the snow that had been falling when Sasori ran in not ten minutes ago was now settling over the parking lot in a fine layer. Sasori frowned.

"No." Deidara was quite obviously surprised, but cleared his throat to cover it. "I just came to say goodbye and give you your Christmas present, stupid." Sasori said, reaching in his jacket and tugging out a small red package. He pushed it into Deidara's hands, then zipped up his coat.  
"Okay. Bye." Sasori said, and turned towards the parking lot, feeling in his pocket for an unused bus ticket as he spotted his bus waiting.

"Hey!" Deidara punched him in the shoulder, a bit too hard to be friendly.  
"What?" Sasori asked as he turned back around. Then he stared in surprise. Deidara was glaring at him fiercely, holding the present tightly in his hands.

"Is that seriously it?" he asked. Was he angry or... or what? Sasori wondered.

"What, you wanted a bigger present?" he asked, turning around just in time to see his bus leave. "Shit!"

"No, I didn't want a bigger present... " Deidara muttered.

"Then what, what?" Sasori asked, grabbing Deidara by the shoulders in frustration. "Why won't you..." his voice trailed off as he noticed Deidara not meeting his eyes. He sighed.

"Fine. Okay. Tell me what you want, Deidara. I'm not leaving until you tell me... my goddamn bus left anyways." he grumbled. Deidara pushed him away angrily.

"Then fucking walk back! It's not like I asked you to come anyways!" he yelled, attracting a couple glances from passing travellers. Sasori blinked in surprise, completely without explanation for Deidara's attitude.  
"Just fuck off Sasori.." Deidara gazed at him fiercely before looking away again kicking some snow off his shoe.

Sasori turned and walked away, blinking snow from his eyelashes. Behind him, Deidara leaned back against the cold wall of the airport, clutching Sasori's gift in his hands and watching as he walked away. He pressed a cold hand against his eyes and tried to remember how it felt to breathe. He took a deep, shuddering breath, and moved his hand, gazing up at the darkening sky.

"Forgot something." Sasori let shock register on Deidara's face for a moment before he kissed him.  
Numbly, Deidara stood still and let it happen, too surprised to even blink. Sasori's warm breath fanned over his cheeks as he pressed his lops softly against Deidara's. His ungloved hands trailed lightly through Deidara's hair, caressed his neck, held his hands. Too soon, far too soon, Sasori broke away and once more walked away into the snow. This time, he didn't come back.

Deidara thought several times of running after him, but his feet refused to move. He stood there, frozen and staring, for a long time. It was only when he remembered that he had a flight to catch that he dug himself out of the snow that had buried his feet and walked stiffly back into the airport, Sasori's present still clutched tightly in his hands.

* * *

Tada! Okay, I know that both Sasori and Deidara were being REALLY stupid in this chapter, and I also know that this chapter is quite short, but the next one's longer! Review if you liked it, or have questions/comments/requests!


	25. Night's Body

**The Night's Body**

* * *

_Couldn't we do what we did last night again_  
_ Baby you and I could be better friends_  
_ Don't you think it's time we went a bit further, oh yeah_  
_ Every night when we say goodbye_  
_ how can I help looking in your eyes_  
_ Wondering why you and I haven't hit it_  
_ Can we get it on_

* * *

Lying on the bed in his brother and sister-in-law's second guest room, Deidara drummed his fingers on his phone, wondering yet again if he should open it. He had been wondering this for more than a week.  
Germany was beautiful, of course, and it was always nice to see his brother, mostly because that way his mother would have someone else to complain to, but there was a dull sort of ache in his stomach every time he glanced at his phone or at the present that Sasori had given him, which now sat unopened on his desk.  
He knew what the ache was, of course: hatred. He laughed aloud at that thought, then groaned into his pillow.

He had opted out of going into Regensberg with his family in favour of what? Of lounging around wonderingwhether or not to open a stupid phone. Or a crappy present, which would probably either turn out to be a self-help book, or some kind of sex toy, knowing Sasori. The thought made him groan again and roll over.

Finally, after much rolling and muttering, he decided that he had to open his phone, because if he didn't he wouldn't be able to text Pain, which was really what he wanted to do at this point. Scowling, he flipped open his phone determinedly. The determination whooshed out of him as he saw the large alert filling the screen: 23 new texts, 4 missed calls.

He swallowed and pressed enter. The first text was from Pain: '_How's Germany? Have a happy Christmas :) Also, you'd better be back in time to open your present from me. It is FANTASTIC. Trust me. Oh yeah, how are the ladays over there? ;) There's a naughty list for a reason...'  
_Impatiently, Deidara read the text, then skipped to the next one. 'Ladays' were _not _what was weighing on his mind now.

Predictably, the next was from Sasori. '_I missed my bus again. I can see your plane leaving. You're always leaving me, one way or another, aren't you? Have fun in Germany. I'll be waiting for you.' _Deidara read the text hungrily, then pressed 'next'. Sasori again. '_So... being a good boy? Okay, I'll be honest. For once. Christmas vacation with my parents is complete shit. I'll probably go to Pain's house. Itachi __and Kisame are there now. How are you?'_

Again, Deidara pressed 'next'. A sort of obsessive thirst for more, for _anything _that meant Sasori was thinking of him began to creep through him like poison.

'_Very bored. I bet you're very busy with your family and stuff. Come to think of it, are you even getting these texts? After all, I don't know what your phone plan is... God I am so stupid. Anyways. Miss you.'  
_Next.  
_'Since you're not replying, I'm pretty sure that either you're still mad -for some reason- or you're just not getting these. Well, if it's the former, sorry for not ravishing you until you begged for my mercy outside the airport. Sorry for not getting you to scream my name until your throat was raw. _

Deidara spluttered in shock, and his hand tensed around the phone, willing himself to fling it away from him, but his arm refused to move. Grudgingly he continued to read, promising himself that Sasori would die a very painful death as soon as he saw him again.

_Of course, I'm just fantasizing. I think you were just mad I came at all. I do always chase after you, don't I? Well, I guess you've got to get used to that. I'm going to chase after you until I die. I am being serious, if you're wondering. If you're actually not getting these, then I guess I am texting nobody. But that's okay. Happy holidays, Deidara.'_

The thought of Sasori chasing him until he died was too much to handle, so Deidara skipped away to the next one, checking the date -four days ago- with a sigh of exasperation at himself.

'_Pain has consumed so much vodka over the past four days, I honestly think he might secretly be Russian. Stereotypes aside, how are you? I really miss you. Like, not just because you're hot. You're my best friend, right? Okay shit I sound like a pussy. Whatever. Just get the fuck back home.'  
_Skip.  
_'Okay screw this. I am going to fucking wait at the airport until you come home. I am not joking at all, Deidara. I'm on the bus, headed for the airport. I don't care if you don't come back for a week, or two weeks. I'll be waiting right here.' _Skip.  
_'At the airport. Hanging out at the Starbucks. I would be bored, but I'm thinking about you. Some chick just asked me out for coffee' _

"Did you say _yes?_" Deidara exclaimed, and desperately pressed 'next'. It was from Pain.

_'Hey. You might already be aware, but Sasori's waiting for you at the airport. Now, I don't want to be all pissy about this, but seriously, Deidara. There is seriously a limit to how long this can go on. You and Sasori are my best friends, so I can honestly say that if you keep him chasing after you like this I will kick your ass. Because he's going crazy. Of course, if he stops chasing you, I'll kick his ass because then you'd be really crushed. Go ahead and deny it if you like but it's true, and you do know it. So... you know, fuck this it's too complicated.'  
_Skip.  
_'Okay I'll just keep going with my point... You and Sasori HAVE to figure this out sometime, because I _know _that this is driving you both insane. All he fucking thinks about is you! And I know it's the same for you, Deidara. I bet you haven't left your room since you got to Germany. I'm right, aren't I? Just figure this shit out. Miss you lolz!'_

Deidara shut his phone again, and rolled over. It was too much. Why hadn't he checked his phone until now? All this was _way _too much to figure out at once. Sasori was waiting at the airport. He was fucking _waiting there, _with no guarantee that Deidara was coming back anytime soon. And as much as he hated to think about it, even admit it to himself, Pain was right: Sasori was driving him insane. But not because he hated him. For a completely different reason, although they were not dissimilar: hatred is a passionate emotion, and it's not the only one.

And what Pain had guessed about Deidara's activities had been dead-on. Deidara wondered if maybe Pain knew him better than he knew himself. Certainly Sasori did.

Deidara sat up so suddenly that his head span for a minute. He clambered out of bed, and trudged over to his desk. He picked up Sasori's present, and admired the festive wrapping paper for a moment before tearing it open. Three items fell out of the shredded paper onto the floor. Guiltily, his fingertips thudding strangely as excitement sped his heartbeat, Deidara picked them up one by one, sitting on the floor.

The first was a card with a couple of fat reindeer on the front. Deidara flipped it open, and a photo of Sasori, naked except for a Santa hat and festive boxer briefs fell out. Deidara picked it up, eyebrows raised, then looked to see if there was anything written in the card. He recognized Sasori's practically illegible scribble, and held the paper close to his face to try and make it out.

'_Merry Christmas Deidara. I bet you noticed already, but there's a sexy present for you in the card. Something to keep you company when you're not with me. Don't lie to yourself, you love it. Have a great time in Germany, and I miss you a lot. Happy Christmas, and your New Year's goal should be to make it onto my naughty list next year. Just a suggestion. See you later- Sasori'_

Deidara's excitement drained from him. He felt like exclaiming '_that's it?' _because there was nothing -not even the picture- particularly special about the card. It was the sort of thing that Sasori would have sent him in September, or even October: when he was just flirting, just being himself. Being a normal friend, or as much of a _normal _friend as Sasori could ever be.

Deidara left the card on his desk, slipped the picture back into it, and brought the two presents back to his desk to examine them. He felt numb and a bit torn at the edges. He picked up one of Sasori's gifts, and carefully unwrapped the red tissue paper, realizing too late that it wasn't Christmas yet.

A small, ornate bird rolled onto his bed. Curiously, Deidara examined it. Sasori had quite obviously made it; his signature was just legible on the bird's chest. It was made of shiny metal, painted gold, and was covered with tiny jewels. Every feather was detailed, and it's eyes sparkled the same colour blue as Deidara's own. It looked like the sort of thing one might find in a jeweller's store.  
Amazed, Deidara found tiny hinges below the bird's raised wings, and a red string attached to the top with a label that read 'Pull me'. He did, and at once the wings lowered and a two shutter-like doors opened on the top. Inside was a tiny compartment where a small digital watch face appeared to be counting down seconds. Deidara squinted at the flashing red numbers, confused, but then he suddenly laughed: the bird was a bomb, set to explode in a hundred years.

"Thanks..." he murmured, shutting the bird and placing it gently on his bedside table.

He picked up the second gift, which was wrapped with one long red ribbon. Deidara undid it quickly, and a cd case fell into his hands. It was obviously hand-made, and on the cover, for some reason, was picture of an okapi. Deidara opened the case, and a sheet of paper covered in Sasori's writing slid out.

He picked it up, and began to read: '_Hey Deidara. Happy Christmas! No reason for the okapi, if you were wondering. Anyway, I'll just explain the tracks and stuff. Oh yeah, in case you hate the songs or don't get why I put them on here, I'll just summarize the whole thing right now, ready? I don't care if you're not. Alright, take 10 seconds to mentally prepare for this bombshell. Ten...nine..eight..seven..six..five...four SURPRISE! I love you. Look at that, I purposefully interrupted your mental preparation. Hating me now? Probably. But that's okay, because I love you more than you hate me, so I still win. Right then.'  
'Track 1: Layla, by Eric Clapton. Why? Because Clapton is amazing. Plus, just listen to this part: What'll you do when you get lonely/ And nobody's waiting by your side?/ You've been running and hiding much too long/ You know it's just your foolish pride.  
Actually, fuck it. It's just a great song.  
Track 2: Faded, Soul Decision. Is it a boy band song? Yes. Is it awesome? Hell yeah. What part of 'When I get you all alone/ I'm gonna take off all your clothes /Ain't nobody gonna interrupt my game' could possibly be more awesome? '  
_  
The rest of the track list went on in that manner, with Sasori making some comments about every song, from 'Your Man' to 'Beast of Burden', with artists from Maroon 5 to Owl City to The Calling. After finishing, Deidara folded up the note and picked up the cd. He heard his brother's keys in the door downstairs.

The timing couldn't have been any more perfect: stuffing his phone back into his pocket, he jogged downstairs to tell his mom to book the earliest flight back she could find.

* * *

Hope you liked it! I know the lyrics were very very corny, and I know this whole chapter is just one long text message, but I am very tired and have just had a bloodtest done. Sue me.


	26. Impaired Persona

**Impaired Personality**

* * *

_And every time I touch you, you just tremble inside_  
_And I know how much you want me that you can't hide_

So, it's been a week since I promised a quick update, but I was revising this, and I thought it might be nice to get a little suspense going. (sarcasm) Anyways, here's the chapter. Another double update, actually! Hope you guys like it. If you do, please tell me! If not, please tell me what you'd like to see improved!

As usual, you can always message story requests to me on this site, or you can check previous chapters for my twitter account to follow and request. Bonus! My twitter account has some art I did for this story, if you'd like to see it. I'm nobody's artist, so it's not fantastic. But, y'know. If you want to check it out.  
DISCLAIMER! I do not own Naruto, or any of its characters or themes. All rights go to the owner, Kishimoto.

* * *

Over the course of the next eight hours, Deidara received text after text. He was only able to read the first few, of course, because he happily complied to the 'all cellphones off' rule while on the airplane, but the few he received were proof enough for him that Sasori was excited to see him, in his own strange way.

'_Guess who wants to bite your bottom lip right now?' 'I'm naked in the shower now... it's steamy... drops of moisture drip down my body... I'm thinking of you. Are you thinking of me? Are they dirty thoughts, Deidara? I bet they are you dirty bitch.' 'TBH, you're the most fuckable person I've ever met. Just so you know.' __'Do you know the song 'Shut up and sleep with me'?' _

Sasori was back at the airport, freshly showered and now inexplicably nervous. He refused to let him think in 'what if's and 'maybe's, and instead concentrated on filling Deidara's inbox up with sexual propositions.  
His eyes were constantly flitting up to the arrivals board, where Deidara's return flight was brightly lit next to a large green 'on time'.  
Two minutes to go.

Pain phoned him.

"Hey." Sasori said.

"Is it there yet?"

"Two minutes."

"Okay. Now remember, make sure that you two figure things out tonight, okay? Because I will pierce your dicks together if I have to go through one more term of this bullshit-"  
Sasori shut his phone. Seconds later, it predictably rang again.  
"If you ever hang up on me again I will superglue your anal tract while you sleep." Pain said angrily. Sasori sighed, his focus not with the conversation at all, but well aware that Pain always meant what he said.

"Yeah, yeah, I know you and your little cow moments, but I really don't see how your threatening me is going to do anything..." his voice trailed off, staring ahead of him at the arrivals sign.

"Sasori?"

"I'm hanging up." Sasori mumbled, shutting his phone and starting to walk towards the arrivals gate.

He broke into a jog as the doors opened and the passengers began to make their way through. He stood a little ways away from the throng of people awaiting their family, friends, lovers. He was gazing intently at the wide doors, his heart in his mouth.  
A vibration in his pocket slowly drew his attention back to himself, and he opened it.  
A text from Deidara.

'_Even sexual harassment on this extreme level won't chase me back onto that plane. Sorry.'  
_Sasori re-read the text slowly as a sense of calm enveloped him.

"Get that stupid smile off your face. You look ridiculous, un."

Sasori looked up and felt at once feather-light and watery. His throat wouldn't work, nothing would. He felt sure his legs wouldn't support him any longer, his arms would dissolve. Deidara stood before him, his large black suitcase in tow, a thousand fires blazing in his gaze. Sasori walked to him unsteadily, and seized him in a hug.

"What, is that it?" Deidara asked, a small grin on his face. Sasori looked up in confusion, and Deidara tipped his chin up, kissing Sasori softly. When they broke apart, Sasori started to speak, but Deidara interrupted him.

"Not here. Take me to a hotel." When Sasori stared at him in shock, Deidara cleared his throat uncomfortably.  
"Is that okay?" he asked, his gaze about two feet to the left of Sasori. Sasori looked at him carefully, tipping his chin up as he grinned.

"I thought you'd never ask." he said as they wheeled Deidara's luggage out of the airport, into the snowy outside.

In the taxi, the atmosphere was very uncomfortable. Sasori and Deidara sat on either side of the backseat, looking out their windows. Their driver had earphones in, clearly not interested in what they said to each other, or if they talked at all.  
Deidara was actually calling himself all sorts of dirty names in his mind. He was insistant that his kissing Sasori had merely been the result of some momentary brian-mangling turbulence from the flight, and that he should pretend that he had forgotten all about it. But, Sasori would of course take it the wrong way. Because he's just stupid like that. It's not like Deidara _wanted _to kiss him, it was just some... strange... argh. His mind gave up and instead broiled in mutinous silence.

Finally, Deidara gave a small, clearly staged cough.

"How have you been?" he asked.  
Sasori looked over curiously; he had rather wondered what they would say to each other once they were finally together. Things varying from 'I love you, let me stay with you forever' and 'let's run away together to Bali' to 'I think you should see a counsellor' had been running erratically through his mind, but he hadn't considered that regular small talk would be included in their conversation.

"Alright. And you?" he replied. Deidara merely shrugged, his face still turned towards the window.  
Sasori watched him for a few minutes while Deidara bit his lip, his heart thudding in his chest as he desperately wondered what else could be said to skirt around the edge of the explosion of furious passion that was spitting angrily between them.

"I'm guessing you don't realize that I can see you twisting your face in the reflection of the window." Sasori commented, snickering as he saw Deidara freeze, flush, and glare skywards in loathing.

Comfortable now, Sasori took out his phone and began to text Pain. Mostly little quips about Pain's continuing status as a singleton who seriously wants a relationship. And about his status as a ginger. Naturally.  
But it was really for something to do while he let Deidara relax, too.

Meanwhile, Deidara had shrugged off his previous humiliation and unconsciously let his gaze wander over Sasori's face. His rumpled red hair had grown longer, his bangs hanging too low over his heavily-lidded eyes; the passing fluorescent lights from outside the car cast an eerie, waxy glow over his pale skin, elongating the shadows of his thick eyelashes. His cheekbones stood out more than they had before the holidays, Deidara noted with concern: had he been eating properly?  
Sasori's eyes flicked up suddenly, and Deidara quickly turned away, flushing furiously.

Although he had guiltily been fantasizing about it for the entirety of his trip to Germany, he had forgotten the distressing power that Sasori's eyes seemed to have over him. It sounded ridiculous and cheesy, especially in his mind, where such thoughts were stamped upon with much relish, but Sasori's gaze had always affected him strangely. Since day one. Because that come-to-bed look had a distressing beauty that greatly appealed to Deidara's artistic senses. It was a twisted beauty.  
Like an orchid growing gracefully amid a surging, writhing, sweaty orgy.

He felt the seat beneath him shift, and turned to find Sasori leaning over, smirking.

"What?" Deidara asked darkly, scowling.

"You're blushing." Deidara's scowl deepened, and he shoved Sasori away.

"I am not, un."

"You're blushing even more." Sasori smirked, but Deidara just rolled his eyes and faced away again.

The following silence seemed almost comfortable, but Deidara's heart was still racing, his muscles tense. Sasori, despite having been the one worst affected by Deidara's absence, was perfectly relaxed, as though meditating. Finally, he spoke, examining his nails casually.

"So, what made you come back?" Deidara flinched, then dug his nails into his palms. He was furious with himself for being so nervous and self-conscious, and then twice as furious for caring about that.

"What made you stay at an airport for five days?" he retorted angrily. Images of a lovey-dovey reunion scene flew again from Sasori's mind. Of course he saw that coming. He allowed himself a small grin, already happier than he could believe just for having Deidara home, with him.

"You know why I did." he said quietly. Deidara scowled again.

"No, I don't fucking know." he snapped, glaring out the window at the street beyond the glass.  
He felt icy inside, his face was hot. This was not what he wanted to happen. But already his imagined reunion scene was fading fast from his mind; what had he wanted? Beside him, he heard Sasori click his tongue impatiently, then sigh.

"You're so unbelievable..." he muttered. Deidara felt something in him splinter sharply.

"_I'm _unreasonable?" he said angrily, facing Sasori, who looked up in surprise.

"You do not know the _meaning _of the word! For months now I've had to deal with you following me around, _kissing _me in public, climbing into my bed, into my mind, and you do not know how crazy you are making me! I literally cannot take this any more! I really can't and _that _is why I came back, to set this fucking mess straight, because I am _this close _to going insane!" Deidara burst, showing Sasori an inch with his fingers.

He was breathing heavily, his eyes alight with fury, but he wasn't done yet. This outburst was what he needed- what he had both needed and dreaded for a very long time.

"Some people deal fine with being the most important thing in somebody else's life, but I don't. I just don't! And I know that's what you think of me, because why the fuck else would anyone spend days at an airport with no guarantee that anybody would ever arrive to see them? I can't deal with this kind of responsibility! I have no idea what the fuck to do with you!" Deidara raved, clutching his head in his hands, all the anger and frustration he'd been suppressing for so long finally coming out. It had been a long time since he'd let his emotions completely overtake him.  
Or rather, it had been a while since he'd let himself express himself with words. He was more of a body person, through and through, but the only way he could vent with his body now would be to punch Sasori in the face. And that was starting to feel like a very, very good idea. Sasori pulled Deidara's hands from his face, and made him look at him.

"Can't you just accept it and be happy? It's not bad to be the most important thing in someone's life." he said. Deidara stared at him, then quickly shook him off.

"Don't fuck with me! I am shitting serious! This isn't a fucking joke!" he yelled, shoving Sasori away from him.

The rush and thud of adrenaline in his ears encouraged him, urged him on, but he knew, even as he yelled at Sasori for every bit of misery and frustration he'd gone through in the months since their first meeting, that there was no anger within him any more. He had long since gotten rid of that.  
What made his voice loud and his eyes flash now was terrible fear. This fear had been harboured in Deidara's heart for months now, growing ever stronger as his anger faded. The fear of having no defences, nothing between Sasori, who would surely destroy him, and the terrible feelings that were brewing and sparking inside him, was overpowering.

"I don't want to be the most important person to you! I couldn't give a fuck what you think of me! I just wish I had never met you! I would be way happier if I just forgot I knew you! You think you can just come into my life and fuck it all up? Why the hell do I get so fucked up when it comes to you? You're just a loser, a playboy, a stupid, arrogant, fucking..." Deidara faltered, his throat tighening.  
He was fighting his last stand, he knew it, and the fear inside him was turning to panic at the thought of losing. Because he knew that if he lost this, he would lose forever.

"I don't know what the fuck you want. My life has been turned upside down since I met you, and I hate it! I don't know who I am anymore! If I had never met you, I wouldn't have any of this shit screwing up my life!" Deidara smacked the car door in frustration, his voice cracking.  
"I don't give a fuck what you do, you go do whatever the hell you want, and leave me alone! Look what you've done to me! I would never get so fucking upset over some dick like you!."

"Deidara-" Sasori, who had sat in stunned silence through all of this tried to interrupt at last, grabbing Deidara's shoulder and making him face him again.

"No! Don't touch me, don't-" Panicking, Deidara struck out with his fist and caught Sasori's jaw. Sasori's face turned from the blow and he swore, then laughed.

"What the fuck are you laughing for?" Deidara snapped, but before he could lash out again, Sasori grappled him into a hug, pulling him close and stroking his hair.

"Be quiet now." Sasori murmured.

"I love you."

Deidara had whispered it into Sasori's shoulder, finally, and for the last time, giving up.

"I love you so much. Fucking hell, so much." He was really crying now, and unable to stop himself, he pressed himself harder against Sasori, trying to not only bury his words, but himself as well into Sasori's chest, his heart.

"This is the worst. The fucking worst."

Sasori quietly hummed an old Van Morisson hit, softly twirling Deidara's hair in his fingers. He knew that with time, possibly just five minutes, elation would fill him and he might not be convinced to ever let go of the boy pressed against his chest. But for now... all Sasori wanted to do was lean against the sit, stroke Deidara's hair, and be happy he was alive_. _

* * *

_Tada!  
_Okay, not that brilliant, but the good news is, there's a double update, so just continue on to the next chapter! And please review! but only if you want to.


	27. Deux Ex Machina

**Deus Ex Machina**

* * *

_You like me, and I like it all.  
_David Bowie is fantabulous! ...okay, now read the chapter!

* * *

For once, Sasori was grateful for heavy traffic. The warm backseat of a city taxi felt better than a uninviting hotel room just then. Especially when the holiday lighting from the streets outside blurred against the frosted windows, giving the inside of the taxi a surreal sort of glow, and the taxi driver was calm and silent... quite a rare situation, really.  
He rested his chin on Deidara's head, then smiled.

"Are you done crying now?" he asked softly, as Deidara had been silent for quite some time.

"Shut up. I wasn't crying. You're stupid. A serious asshole, un." Deidara's voice was muffled in Sasori's shirt.

"Now that's not very nice. Don't you mean 'I love you, I need you, look at me, love me, love me more'?" he asked, grinning. He imagined Deidara's scowl as he told him to piss off. "You're pretty stubborn, aren't you?" Sasori mused, his cheek against Deidara's head. "I'll try to fix that."  
Hidden in Sasori's arms, Deidara pressed his blushing face harder against his chest, knowing that it would be a while before he could look up.

"Let's make a deal." Sasori said after another comfortable silence. "I'll promise to be very good to you, and in return, you promise to let me adore you, and we'll both promise not to fight any more. Does that sound good?" Deidara shook his head, still buried within Sasori's arms.  
"Why not?" Sasori asked, and at last, Deidara disentangled himself and sat up, carefully avoiding Sasori's gaze, which he knew would be lingering on his flushed expression and messy hair.

"If I never yelled at you, I would hate you. And I know I piss you off sometimes, and if you never fought about it with me, you'd hate me, too." Sasori laughed.

"That's true. Alright then. Fighting is allowed, then." Deidara shrugged and looked out the window again. A smirk spread over Sasori's face as he shifted over, wrapped his arms around Deidara's waist and tucked his chin over his shoulder.

"What do you want?" Deidara asked testily, blushing in spite of himself as he felt Sasori's breath fan over his neck, giving him goosebumps.

"You're fine with it then?" Sasori asked, trailing his lips lightly over Deidara's shoulder, slowly pulling his shirt aside.

"Stop that. And what do you mean? Fine with what? You trying to ruin my shirt? Not particularly." Deidara said, slapping Sasoir's adventurous hand away from him. Sulkily, Sasori retreated his arms and just leaned against Deidara.

"You're fine with letting me adore you as much as I want?" he asked, unable to stop a grin crossing his features again.

"Absolutely not. Adore something else. Something reasonable. Like sharks, un." Sasori sighed again and moved away from Deidara, back to the other window. The traffic was clearly terrible: they hadn't moved at all for ages, and it was getting really dark outside.

"Sharks aren't you."

"That's the whole point!" Deidara retorted, then sat in silence, waiting for Sasori to say something. To say 'no, please let me adore you instead of sharks!'. To say anything at all. But he said nothing.

"Well... I guess... you could if you want to..." Deidara said awkwardly, tracing lines on his hands. He didn't hear any movement, but Sasori was suddenly next to him again.

"I'm sorry, but have you not been wearing a seatbelt this whole time?" Deidara asked. Sasori grinned and shrugged.  
The cabbie must have heard that in spite of his earphones, however, because there was a cough from up front, and a gruff voice said, "Gotta have your belt on, mate, or I'm not going any further."

"Right." Sasori said to him, buckling himself into the middle seat. Deidara tried to turn away again, but found Sasori's hands framing his face, making him look up.

"What?" he asked mutinously. Sasori was grinning, his face lit strangely by the street lights.

"Your smile pisses me off." Deidara said, glaring at Sasori, trying very hard to ignore the manic beat of his heart.

"Do you want me to love you?" Sasori asked simply.

Deidara felt his insides turn to water. He stared at Sasori as his throat and mouth worked furiously, desperate to say something biting, to swear, to spit in his face.  
But he said nothing at all.

This terrible breakdown in his defences brought angry tears to his eyes, and then he became a storm of anger and shame, his teeth biting on his lips in a desperate effort to stop the flood of words -mostly meaningless gibberish- that was threatening to spew from them. He was so angry -how could Sasori be so, so...? He hadn't expected to cry -twice- or to lie against Sasori's chest listening to Van Morrison. He had mentally prepared for almost anything, even things he was too embarassed to admit he'd imagined, but this upfront sort of situation was too much for him.

Sasori was patient, calmly stroking Deidara's cheek with his thumb, or wiping away a stray tear that escaped his eye. But he continued to wait. It was so silent in the taxi that it seemed that everything in the city was waiting breathlessly, too.  
At last, at long last, Deidara gave up, just as both his anger and his fear had given up before.

"Mm-hm." was all he managed.

"Alright, then." Sasori said.

In that moment, he looked so different, and yet so very, very similar to the troublemaking, alluring boy who had pinned Deidara against a wall at their first meeting. There was the seductive, I-can-make-you-feel-so-good allure in his bedroom eyes that had always been there, but now there was love as well, so much that Deidara, seeing it for what certainly felt like the first time, could do nothing to deny its existence any more.

There was no talking in that taxi for a very, very long time.

After a while, though, those precious moments in the taxi had to end. The car pulled up to a curb at last, and the cabbie pulled out his earphones and announced that they had reached their destination.  
"'Kay, thanks." Sasori said, sitting up.

"Um, Deidara, could you grab the luggage, and I'll pay." Deidara nodded, blushing as he tried to flatten his hair quickly. Sasori dug in his back pocket for his wallet, fished out a couple bills, and passed them forwards as Deidara climbed out.

The cabbie took the cash as Sasori shut the door, then wound down the passenger window and glanced back at him, grinning brightly.

"Thanks, man!" Pain said, his eyes, alive with wicked humour, glinting from beneath his cabbie's hat.

"What the-?" Sasori exclaimed, staring as Pain swerved away from the curb, leaving him and Deidara on the sidewalk, stunned.

Deidara stared at the retreating cab for a minute, slowly realizing his embarrassment, then whipped out his phone, speed-dialing. Pain picked up after two rings.

"Can't talk, Deidara, I'm driving. See ya."

And with that and a shout of laughter, he hung up as Deidara and Sasori stood speechless with shock at the steps of the hotel.  
The stars glittered above them and snow piled around them and cars drove quietly by.

* * *

Tada again! Hope you liked the double update! I'll have to update I Love asap... but in the meantime, I really love working on this story... Because I'm a fangirl too. Please review if you have any comments, and feel free to request a story or two!


	28. Hit the lights

**Hit the lights**

* * *

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Superman! No, even more unlikely- It's an update!  
Yes, miracles will never cease. Somehow you guys managed to roundhouse kick my butt into my chair and my hands onto my keyboard, and so, wherever you guys are, a loud, echoing and eternally grateful THANKYOU should be ringing in your ears right about now. I'm serious. Thank you so much, for not giving up on me completely. I will try very, very hard to update I Love tomorrow. Within the week or I shall wax my legs. And I do not like doing that. So that's practially a garantee.  
Also, you guys should listen to Just A Little Bit by Kids of 88- good song!

* * *

"Did... Did I just..."  
Sasori stared after the taxi cab which already was vanishing amongst the hoards of others. Deidara shook his head. He felt a bit ill. Sasori turned to look at him, shocked.

"Did I just _give _Pain ten bucks?" he asked weakly. Deidara shook his head in disbelief.

"_That's _what you're concerned about? How did he get hold of a taxi? A legal driver's liscence? ...How the hell did we not _notice?" _He glanced back at the road, but already the cab was gone, swallowed up into the churning sea of cars on the lit-up street.  
"Well, feel free to stand out here all night with rats swinging from your dropped jaw, but I'm going inside, un." Deidara said, pursing his lips and picking up his suitcase before marching up the steps to the hotel door.  
Sasori followed suite, a wry smile on his face as he looked again towards the street.

"We _need _to get that freak a girlfriend." he muttered.

After checking in (luckily there were a few vacancies- a miracle, during the holidays), Deidara wordlessly stepped into the elevator. Sasori followed him in, looking at him curiously.

"How many rooms did you get?" he asked.

"How many do you think? There's no way I'm paying for you to have your own room when there's a perfectly good bathtub for you to sleep in." he sniffed, and that was that. Sasori grinned at him, shaking his head.

"What?" Deidara snapped.

"Nothing. Just you." Sasori said, covering his eyes with a hand. Deidara eyed him suspiciously before fixing his gaze on the little lights that flashed at the top of the lift doors.

Pain's surprising appearance had given him time to get himself under control- no more weak, ridiculous, Sasori-my-love moments.  
Oh no.  
No sir.  
He was a _rock.  
_A rock who certainly wasn't going to share a bed with Sasori. A rock who might accidentally turn the tap above Sasori in the night as he slept in the bathtub. Deidara snorted, imagining that. He stopped abruptly as he pictured -surely accurately- Sasori's reaction to that: Pulling Deidara in with him, perhaps ridding him of his clothes as he did so.

The elevator pinged open, and Deidara wordlessly exited it, followed shortly by Sasori, who was strolling behind him, curious about Deidara's behaviour, but mostly elated. He was still thinking about that taxi ride.  
Even if Pain was there, and even if he had gotten ten dollars that he perhaps didn't deserve, the time spent in that taxi was perhaps the happiest Sasori could remember.  
So he could deal with sleeping in a bathtub.  
But he seriously doubted that he would stay there for the whole night.  
Because when he was sleepy, Deidara couldn't be bothered to kick Sasori out of bed. And in any case, the words 'take me to a hotel' continued to ring enigmatically in Sasori's ears. So he followed without complaint or question.

Finally, Deidara unlocked the door and walked into a small bedroom with an even smaller ensuite bathroom. He flipped the lightswitch. It wasn't much- faded wallpaper, flickering light, unoriginal furniture, view of another hotel out the window- but it was better than a public bus ride until four in the morning.  
Deidara wrinkled his nose as he walked further in and spotted the small, old bed. He was used to better things, but he didn't have much money with him. He felt uncomfortable when he realized that this was exactly his idea of a shag stop.  
He glanced up as Sasori walked in, grinning.  
As he would be.  
Deidara dumped his bag on the floor and flopped onto the bed, facing the opposite wall.

"The bathtub's over there. Goodnight, un." he said, and shut his eyes tightly.  
Despite himself, he was smiling.  
Waiting for Sasori to do something.

He didn't have to wait long.  
Within seconds, Sasori had followed him down onto the bed and was leaning against the wall, one hand patting Deidara's head while the other searched in his pocket for his phone.  
He quickly sent a text to Pain, declaring that they were in the hotel, and that he owed him ten dollars. And that they'd probably kill him the next time they saw him. He shut his phone, tossed it off the bed, and continued patting Deidara's head.

"Is that it?" Deidara asked, surprised, and secretly a little disappointed.

"Why?" Sasori asked nonchalantly, fighting the urge to grin. "Did you want me to do something?"  
Deidara's eyes narrowed.

"You are an asshole, un."

"Now why's that?" Deidara sat up and crawled to the other end of the bed, where he folded his arms and glared at Sasori.

"No reason. I don't care. You do whatever you want. Watch a movie. Leave. I don't care." Sasori looked at him for a minute silently, then shrugged. He got off the bed and strolled to the door.

"Alright then. See you at school." he said as he opened the door. He walked away down the corridor. The door shut with a small click, leaving Deidara staring at it.

"Asshole. Do whatever the fuck you like." he muttered as he stood up and stretched. He pulled open the curtains and glanced down at the busy street below.

"Can't believe I gave up Germany for this, un." He rolled his eyes. Checked his watch. He fought to appear calm, but inside, his stomach seemed to be spiraling into a small vortex of panic. He glowered at the ceiling.

"Fuck it." he muttered and marched to the door. He wrenched it open and stormed out down the hallway, not sure where he was going.  
But it didn't matter.  
Within three seconds he had been grabbed from behind, pushed against a wall, and kissed fervently up his neck.

Before he could say anything, he was tossed over the shoulder of his assailant and carried into the room. He looked down at the jeans the person was wearing and sighed with relief as he recognized the small scorpion on the pack pocket.

"Thank God it's you." he breathed, and Sasori, hearing him, laughed.

"Did you think I was some scary rapist?" he asked in amusement, setting Deidara down on the bed and leaning over him, his knees pressing into the mattress. Deidara avoided his eyes with some difficulty, as Sasori was cupping his face, their lips just inches apart.

"Of course not!" he said, affronted.  
Sasori laughed and kissed his forehead. Deidara blushed and tried to shift away, but Sasori wasn't letting go. He gazed up at the ceiling dreamily, then glanced back down at Deidara, who was hit with the disturbing effect of being glanced at with heavily-lidded, eyelash-enhanced bedroom eyes while actually in a bedroom.  
He felt very uncomfortable, because it's not very comfortable when your insides decide to melt.

Sasori looked down at Deidara, his expression hungry and happy.

"Tell me again what you said in the car." he said, running a hand through Deidara's long hair.

"No. It's not my fault you're deaf, un." Deidara said huffily, even though he wanted nothing more than to just lean forwards slightly, grab Sasori and never let him go.

"Tell me what you said. In the taxi." he repeated. Deidara bit the inside of his mouth. He wasn't sure if he liked the situation he was in. On the one hand, he was no longer able to hide, at least from himself, what he felt about Sasori, and as they were shut in a hotel room miles from anyone they knew, there wasn't much point hiding it anyways.  
On the other hand, he wasn't -as he had thought at one point in the taxi- completely ready to just give himself over, heart and soul and whatever else Sasori seemed to want from him. He knew if he asked, Sasori would say he wanted everything from him.  
Which was a bit greedy, really.  
So Deidara said he couldn't remember.  
Sasori's expression didn't change. He leaned back , now sitting on Deidara's thighs.

"I asked you if you want me to love you." he said, lifting his chin and grinning. "And you said...?"  
Deidara covered his eyes, yawned, pretended not to be interested or aware of what Sasori was doing.

"You said yes." Sasori pushed the long blonde bangs out of Deidara's face and kissed him. Deidara turned his head away, but Sasori's hand stopped him as soon as he tried, kissing determinedly, but as loving as anything.

"And so," Sasori said, pulling away, a little breathless, cupping Deidara's face, "I am going to love you as long as you let me. And longer, 'cause I'll stay with you forever in your mind. In your heart." Sasori smirked and bent lower.  
"So, you might as well give up. You're not getting away from me." Deidara raised an eyebrow.

"You know, that would be really creepy if you were, you know, a stranger... a rapist... a stalker..." Sasori laughed and sat back, letting Deidara sit up and fold his arms over his chest. They faced each other at either end of the bed. Sasori leaned back and gazed at the ceiling, comfortable and calm. Deidara chewed the inside of his mouth as he watched Sasori.

"Okay, this really isn't how I thought this would go, un..." Deidara said at last, twisting his fingers together, painfully aware of the awkwardness that had settled between them like a pile of dead fish. Sasori blinked at him in surprise: either he hadn't noticed the fish, or he was very good at pretending.

"How did you think it would go?" he asked. Deidara shrugged and muttered something, but Sasori patted his arm and nodded.

"No, I'm curious." Deidara shrugged again and rolled his eyes.

"Well, I don't know... I guess I thought you might... you know, fling me against the wall and do stuff until I couldn't stand or something..." Sasori grinned.

"Is that an invitation?" he asked, leaning forwards, a predatory smirk sliding over his features. Deidara blushed and cleared his throat.

"What? Uh, n-" "Good, because I wasn't sure I could wait much longer..." Sasori purred and bit down on his lip before throwing himself forwards.  
Deidara didn't have time to do anything more than inhale before Sasori was on him, pinning him against the wall, his hips jammed painfully into the headboard, but he couldn't register the pain above the wild pleasure. Sasori was kissing him, more fiercely, more _hungrily _than ever before, and he was everywhere- sucking at his bottom lip, lapping hungrily down his neck, grazing his teeth on Deidara's earlobe...

Deidara gave in quickly and sank against the wall, panting like a wild thing, holding Sasori to him, running his hands through his soft, wavy hair, pulling off his shirt and throwing away.  
Sasori pulled away briefly, holding Deidara's pink face in his hands and stroking his cheeks with this thumbs. His expression was so loving Deidara reddened even more, but the sight of this turned Sasori's sweet smile back into a smirk and his eyes danced with lust once more.

He pressed close to Deidara, sucking and biting at his earlobe, grinning at Deidara whimpered and shook beneath him. His hands ran down to Deidara's jeans, his fingers tracing around the waist band, tugging at them playfully.

"Take them off." he whispered into Deidara's ear, and Deidara complied very willingly.  
It was awkward to pull them off over his hard-on, but they weren't a barrier for long.  
A few seconds later, his underwear had joined the pile of discarded clothing and Sasori's tongue was running up his trembling cock, teasing him before taking him in.

"Oh my god, just... just..." Deidara gasped, his hands twisting in the sheets.

"Patience, Dei-da-ra..." Sasori said his name slowly, just like he'd done when they'd first met, and Deidara bit down on his lip, _hard_.

"Come _on!" _Deidara said through gritted teeth as Sasori slowly put his mouth over his throbbing dick, one hand already wrapped around its base. Deidara moaned as Sasori began to suck, twisting his tongue as he came up again.

"Jesus-" Deidara gasped and pushed Sasori's head down further. Sasori laughed at this, and the vibrations that shot down Deidara's dick were enough to push him over the edge. He held Sasori's shoulders so tightly his nails made red indents on his pale skin as he jerked and came hard in Sasori's mouth. He flopped back against the pillows, wiping his hair off of his forehead and gazing dazedly at Sasori, who was wiping cum off of his face and smirking.

"You know, you may have talked me into your explosions. They really are exciting." he said, and slowly licked his lips.  
Deidara swallowed another moan, and was determined to keep that picture in his memory as long as he could. He narrowed his eyes as Sasori crawled over to him, smirking as he leaned in, pulling Deidara in for a slow kiss. Deidara tasted himself and winced because it was weird, but Sasori was sliding his tongue over his own and tugging at his hair, so he soon forgot it.  
When he opened his eyes and pulled away, he looked down and blushed. Sasori had plainly got the rest of his clothes off while they'd been kissing.

"Oh God, that is... oh God." Deidara groaned as he felt himself get hard again, staring down at Sasori's semi-hard dick. Sasori smirked.

"I know, right? The biggest you've ever seen." he teased, leaning across to kiss Deidara again as he guided his hand down towards it.  
He wrapped Deidara's hand around his length and made him pump in a slow, steady rhythm. He groaned and tilted his head back, biting down on his bottom lip, and Deidara thought that he had never seen anything that had turned him on more. He leaned forward and kissed Sasori's neck, sucking hard as he began to pump faster.  
Sasori moaned loudly and leaned back on the mattress, Deidara following, his teeth and tongue scraping hard against Sasori's skin. Sasori jerked beneath him and cum splattered over his stomach. Sasori's head fell back onto the mattress and he gasped for air before Deidara was on him again, sucking his bottom lip until it was red and swollen.

"Deidara, you.." Sasori gasped, his tired, aroused eyes watching as Deidara leaned off of the bed, digging in his bag. Sasori rubbed Deidara's sides slowly and kissed down his chest softly.

"Keep doing that, you're going to make me fall in love with you." Deidara warned him quietly. Sasori smiled slowly.

"Good." he murmured, and continued.  
Deidara laughed as he found what he was looking for and sat up. Sasori looked at what was in his hand and looked back at him. His expression was suspicious, excited and amused all at once.

"Found them, un." Deidara said, tossing the box of condoms and the jar of lube onto the bed.

"You're prepared, Mr boyscout." Sasori teased, but the suspicious expression didn't leave his face.

"What's up?" Deidara asked as he ripped open a condom with his teeth.

"Nothing," Sasori said slowly.

"Just... "

"Just wondering if I'll bottom you? Not a chance, dreamer." Deidara laughed, rolling it on. Sasori blushed and scowled.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah..." he muttered, watching warily as Deidara stuck three fingers in the jar of lube. "Is hot pink a sanitary colour?" Sasori asked, trying not to sound nervous as Deidara smirked at him.

"What's wrong? Was the invitation I gave you not clear?" he teased, pushing Sasori's legs apart.

"No, it's fine, it's just... oh God, just... just..." Sasori was fumbling for words, his eyes wide as Deidara's fingers dipped down and began to spread the lube around his hole. Deidara stopped, looking at Sasori carefully.

"What?" Sasori snapped, suddenly defensive.  
Admittedly, it can be hard to feel overly confident when you've got your thighs spread wide open for the world to see. Deidara shook his head slightly and bent down to kiss Sasori softly.

"I'll be careful. And I'll stop if you want me to." he murmured against Sasori's cheek, his clean hand stroking his hair. His mouth curved up slightly.

"Trust me." he said.

"I do." Sasori whispered, squeezing his eyes shut as Deidara placed one hand on his knee and slowly insterted the first finger into him.

"Okay, that's fine, next one." Deidara's middle finger slid inside to join the first as Sasori hissed quietly.  
Deidara himself was having to control himself- Sasori was so warm, so tight around his fingers, and just _imagining _what it was going to feel like to bury himself in there was enough to get him a little cross-eyed. Pre-cum was already dripping down Sasori's length. Deidara bent his fingers experimentally and Sasori gave a loud moan, twisting in pleasure before biting down hard on his wrist.

"Did you like that, Sasori, my man?" Deidara asked with a wicked grin, twisting his fingers and then bending them again. Sasori squirmed around him and another moan escaped him, raw and deep.

"F-fuck..." Deidara murmured as his dick hardened even more, now throbbing almost painfully. He lifted himself up onto his knees, removed his fingers and gripped Sasori's thighs.

"You can pride yourself on the fact that you turn me on more than any porn I have ever watched." he told Sasori, who grinned and started to laugh until Deidara started to push his tip inside. Sasori gasped, his fists twisting in the sheets as he gritted his teeth.

"Keep going.." he panted. Deidara slowly pushed in further until he was in all the way.

"Don't move..." Sasori groaned, reaching down and grabbing Deidara's wrist, holding it tightly.  
Deidara was silent, watching Sasori's pale face carefully, but it was difficult to be very concerned when his dick had just discovered the best feeling in the universe. Sasori was gripping him so tightly Deidara thought he might explode just from the warmth and pressure, but Sasori clenched his thighs suddenly, exhaling slowly, and the shiver that reverberated around Deidara's cock nearly made him cry out from pleasure.

"You good?" he asked, breathing through his nose. Sasori released his hold on his wrist.

"It feels like I've got a fucking _beer bottle_up my ass! Of course I'm not good! But go ahead." Sasori groaned, grabbing at the sheets again.  
Deidara allowed himself one small grin before pulling out and sliding in again slowly. Sasori groaned and his spine curved upwards, lifting his hips off of the bed to meet Deidara's as he began to thrust faster.

"Deidara..." Sasori gasped.  
Deidara pushed Sasori's thighs up higher until they were pressing against his shoulders and when he looked down again he shivered violently as he met Sasori's eyes.

Sasori pale face was flushed, his chest was heaving, his arms flung out away from his body, tangled in the sheets. His lips were red and parted, his hair was messy and stuck to his face, but what struck Deidara were his eyes.  
He was gazing up at Deidara from beneath his thick lashes, which were casting charchoal shadows onto his cheeks, and beneath the dazed, drunken arousal there was a savage love so intense that Deidara felt a sudden urge to not only fuck Sasori until he couldn't stand but to hold him tightly and never, ever, ever let go.  
Deidara's jaw tightened and his hands ran up Sasori's thights, illiciting a soft moan beneath him, and he thrust in harder, this time striking gold. Sasori convulsed beneath him, shuddering as a loud moan escaped hi, his hands clenching and unclenching themselves as Deidara slammed into his prostate again and again.

"T-touch me.." Sasori gasped and Deidara obliged, reaching a hand over and wrapping it around Sasori's hard dick, circling the slick tip once before starting to pump rhythmically, matching each stroke to each thrust. After just three, Sasori shuddered again, and Deidara felt a sharp twinge around him as something within Sasori released and he came violently, spraying all over his chest. Deidara thrusted faster as Deidara tightened around him and he came, too, groaning, his nails digging into Sasori's thighs. Spent and exhausted, he pulled out and collapsed next to Sasori, tugging off and tying the condom before rolling onto his side, pulling Sasori towards him. Sasori was gasping so hard Deidara could see his ribs when he inhaled, but he was smiling, and the savage look was still in his eyes.

"I love you. I love you so much." he breathed as Deidara pulled him closer and stroked his face. "And this isn't just a 'you shagged me and now I have you say it' thing. I love you." he said seriously, looking Deidara right in the eyes before kissing him slowly, seriously. Deidara pulled away first, wrapping an arm around Sasori's waist.

"I know you do. And I love you, too." he added quickly as he saw Sasori start to raise his eyebrows. He tucked his chin over Sasori's head and just held him.

"By the way, what happened to that 'there's a perfectly good bathtub for you to sleep in' thing?" Sasori asked.

"There's still time to kick you off the bed." Deidara warned him.

"Alright, fine, I'll be quiet." Sasori said, grinning. "But what I do find weird is that you're so shy... about telling me things or kissing or admitting that you like me -which, by the way, you can't deny anymore after that- but you could rip condoms open without even blinking." Sasori mused. Deidara shrugged.

"I don't think sex is embarassing, un." Sasori tilted his chin up to see him better.

"So, you'd have been fine blowing me before even admitting that you don't hate me?" he asked curiously. Deidara narrowed his eyes.

"Well... probably not, but... earlier, like... a few weeks ago maybe... as long as I didn't have to say anything, then..." he felt himself start to blush and shut up, looking away. Sasori laughed, then trailed his lips slowly up Deidara's neck.

"I love you." he said again. Deidara didn't reply.  
Eventually Sasori tugged the blankets up and over them, rotating them so they were both under the dry zone, and shut the light off.  
Deidara pulled him close again, listening as Sasori's heart beat slowed until it was a quiet, steady pulse.

"I love you so much." he whispered once he was sure Sasori was asleep, his cheek pressed against his head.

"I know you do." Sasori replied conversationally.

Deidara glared at the ceiling and waited for his blush to subside, listening to Sasori snicker quietly into his chest.

* * *

Hope this chapter made up for the long wait! Please review if you liked it, and also to kick me into action for the next update!


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